USA > Indiana > Allen County > Fort Wayne > Valley of the upper Maumee River, with historical account of Allen County and the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana, Volume II > Part 54
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" The nags were brought to the ground, a gray pony about twelve hands high, and a roan, rather larger, like Eclipse and Henry, to con- test the superiority of stock between the bands of Miamis and Potta- wattomies. Six Indians were selected as judges -two placed at the starting point, two at the quarter stake, and two at the coming-out places. ' Riders up - clear the track,' and away they went under whip and spur. The race over, the judges met, the spokesman, a large Miami, says, ' Race even, Miami grey take first quarter, Pottawattomie roan take last quarter,' and all are satisfied. In the evening the grand-jury brought in a bill against Elisha B. Harris for stealing an Indian pony. Judge Eggleston .- ' Any more business before you, Mr. Foreman? ' Gen. Tipton .- ' None sir.' 'You are discharged.'
" Judge Eggleston .- ' There is but one case on the docket for trial, an appeal case, damages claimed $5. I feel quite tired, and will be obliged to my associates to try the case.' Judge Cushman .- ' Cer- tainly.' The case was called. Henry Cooper for the plaintiff, and Hiram Brown for the defendant. Case submitted to the court. The action was for damages, $5 claimed, for killing the plaintiff's dog. The witness swore that he saw the defendant running with his rifle, across his yard; saw him lay it on the fence; saw the smoke; heard the. crack; saw the dog fall; went to where the dog lay, and saw the bullet-hole just behind the foreleg. Here Cooper rested with a triumphant air, and indeed, to a common eye, the case seemed beyond hope, but to the mind of the skillful advocate, capable of drawing the distinction between
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positive and circumstancial evidence, a different conclusion was come to. " Breckenridge's Miscellanies, and Phillip's Evidence, stating the dan- ger of listening to circumstantial evidence, and enumerating many lamentable cases of convictions and executions for murder upon circum- stantial evidence, when the convicts were afterward proved to be entirely innocent, had been widely circulated and extensively read by courts and lawyers until the tendency of the courts was to reject cir- cumstantial evidence. My friend, Mr. Brown, an ingenious attorney, of fine talents, and, by the way, rather waggish, said: ' A single question, Mr. Witness - can you swear you saw the bullet hit the dog!' ' I can swear no such thing.' ' That's all, Mr. Cooper; a case of mere circum- stantial evidence, your honors.' Cooper's countenance fell; defeat stared him in the face; the case was submitted to the court without further evidence. Judge Cushman -' This is a plain case of circumstantial evidence. Judgment for the defendant.' Cooper, with great indigna- tion, with his eyes on Brown :- ' When I die I wish it engraved upon my tombstone, here lies Henry Cooper - an honest man.' Brown, rising as quick as thought :- ' Pope says an honest man is the noblest work of God. There have been atheists in this world - Bolingbroke of England, Voltaire of France, and Tom Paine of America, with a host of infidel writers who may be named: they have all done nothing against the Almighty. But let Henry Cooper be held up in the mid heavens, by an angel, for the whole race of man to look upon; and let Gabriel, with his trumpet announce to the gazing worlds, this is God's noblest work, and all the human race would become atheists in a day.' We returned to Winchester on our borrowed ponies, took our horses that had been brought from Defiance, and reached the Wayne circuit court in good time."
By an act of the legislature approved on the 21st day of January, 1826, Allen county was attached to the Third judicial circuit, of which Hon. Miles C. Eggleston was president judge. Of that circuit it is suf- ficient to say that it extended far enough south to include Jefferson county, on the Ohio river, at the county seat of which, Madison, Judge Eggleston lived.
The fourth term of the Allen circuit court was held at the house of Alexander Ewing, on the 13th day of February, 1826. It was held by the associate judges, Hanna and Cushman, the president judge be- ing absent. Two indictments were returned by the grand jury: one against an Indian known as Sa-ga-naugh, for murder, and one against Elisha B. Harris, known as " Yankee Harris," for larceny. Harris is said to have lived on the St. Mary's about seven miles from Fort Wayne, - and to have adopted as his life-motto, " to be as honest as the nature of the circumstances would admit." Calvin Fletcher was present as pros- ecuting attorney. Hiram Brown, of Indianapolis, and Moses Cox were admitted and sworn as attorneys, at that term of the court.
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JUDGE EGGLESTON.
The fifth term of the court met on the 13th day of August, 1826, and was held by the president judge, Hon. Miles C. Eggleston, with associate Judge Cushman. Judge Eggleston was one of the leading lawyers of the state, and was regarded at that time as one of the best nisi prius judges of the state. Hon. AMOS LANE, of Lawrenceburg, was prosecuting attorney at that term, and continued as such until the next year. Mr. Lane had been a member of the legislature of 1816, the first under the state constitution, and was already a lawyer and a man of note. He was the father of Hon. James H. Lane, who in after years was a resident of Kansas and achieved distinction. At that term Benjamin Cushman, one of the associate judges, was indicted for selling liquors. He was tried by a jury and acquitted.
The next and sixth term of the court was held at the house of William Suttenfield, commencing on the 13th day of August, 1827. The president judge, Eggleston, and associate judges, William H. Hood and Benjamin Cushman, presided. At that term, William Quarles, afterward a prominent lawyer of Indianapolis, was admitted to the bar.
At that term, also, OLIVER H. SMITH was sworn in as prose- cuting attorney. He was born on Smith's Island, near Trenton, N. J., in 1794. Until 1813 he attended a school " off and on," in a building near his home. On account of the death of his father, he left home that year to make his own living, and found work in a woolen mill at Philadelphia. In 1817 he came to Indiana, and set- tled at Rising Sun, but in a short time removed to Lawrenceburgh, and commenced the study of the law. In 1820 he was examined by Judge Eggleston and licensed to practice. Soon afterward he removed to Versailles, in Ripley county, and opened an office, but in a few months removed to Connorsville in Fayette county, where he continued to reside until 1839, when he became a citizen of Indianapolis. In 1822 he was elected a member of the legislature, and made chairman of the judiciary committee. While prosecuting attorney, under an appoint- ment in 1824, Mr. Smith prosecuted some persons in Madison county upon a charge of having killed some friendly Indians. In a public ad- dress in after years, he thus referred to that prosecution: "I was cir- cuit prosecuting attorney at the time of the trials at the falls of Fall Creek, where Pendleton now stands. Four of the prisoners were con- victed of murder, and three of them hung, for killing Indians. The court was held in a double log cabin. The grand jury sat upon a long in the woods, and the foreman signed the bills of indictment, which I prepared, upon his knee; there was not a petit juror that had shoes on - all wore moccasins, and were belted around the waist, and carried side-knives used by the hunters." In. 1826, Mr. Smith was elected to congress from the Third congressional district, which comprised one- third of the state, and extended from the Ohio river to the Michigan
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line. He served with distinction in the house, and in 1836 was elected a senator of the United States. He served his term in the senate with ability and distinction, and at intervals, when at home, and after the close of his term, conducted a large practice at Indianapolis. As a lawyer, he was in the front rank with the greatest lawyers of the state. He died in 1859. At the term last above mentioned, associate judge, Cushman, was indicted for carrying concealed weapons; notwithstanding these in- dictments, Judge Cushman was regarded as a good citizen.
The seventh term of the court was held at the residence of Benja- min Archer, commencing on the 12th day of May, 1828, associate judges, Hood and Cushman, presiding, the president judge being absent. At that term Charles H. Test was sworn as prosecuting attorney for the term, the prosecutor for the circuit being absent. It was at this session that the first will was recorded in Allen county, the will of Abram Burnett.
The eighth term of court was commenced on the roth day of No- vember, 1828, associate judges, Hood and Cushman, presiding, the pres- ident judge again being absent. At this term the first conviction on a charge of felony occurred.
At this term also, DAVID WALLACE was appointed and sworn in as special prosecutor for the term. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1799. When he was a small boy his father emigrated to Ohio, and settled near Cincinnati, in the vicinity of Gen. Harrison's residence. Harrison, who was then in congress, had young Wallace appointed a cadet at West Point. He graduated there in 1821, and for a short time was a tutor in that institution. He then entered the army as a lieutenant of artillery, and in about one year resigned his commission. His father in the mean- time, having settled at Brookville, Ind., he returned to his paternal home and commenced the study of the law in the office of Judge Eggleston. He was admitted to the bar in 1823, and soon had a good practice. In 1828, IS29 and 1830 he was elected to the legislature. In 1831 he was elected lieutenant-governor of the state, and was re-elected in 1834. In 1837 he was elected governor of Indiana. While holding that office he issued a proclamation appointing a day of thanksgiving and prayer. It was the first paper of the kind issued by a governor of Indiana, and it established a precedent which has been followed to the present day. After the expiration of his term as governor, he resumed the practice of the law. In 1841 he was elected to congress from the Indianapolis district. After the expiration of one term he again resumed the prac- tice. During two years subsequent to the expiration of his term in congress, and prior to 1850, he resided at Fort Wayne, engaged in his profession. By 1850 he had become a resident of Indianapolis, and in that year was elected a member of the convention to frame a new state constitution. In 1856 he was elected a judge of the court of common pleas, and held the position until his death in 1859. As a judge, he was impartial and able, and it has been said that in that position he made the best record of his life. Governor Wallace was not a money-getting nor money-saving man. He took more pleasure in acquiring knowledge
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and an honorable position than in gaining property. At one time he entered into a business venture at Fort Wayne which cost him his entire estate. It has been said of him that " as an orator he had few equals in the state. With a voice modulated to the finest precision, an eye sparkling and expressive, a countenance and person remarkable for beauty and symmetry, he stepped upon the speaker's stand, in these respects, far in advance of his compeers."
The ninth term of the court commenced on the IIth day of May, 1829. Judge Eggleston, the president judge, and associate judges, Hood and Cushman, presiding. At that term, Martin M. Ray, who afterward became a distinguished lawyer, was sworn in as prosecuting attorney for the circuit.
By an act of the legislature, approved January 20, 1830, Allen county became a part of the sixth judicial circuit, composed of the counties of Randolph, Henry, Wayne, Union, Delaware, Fayette, Rush, Elkhart and Allen. Here, again, the exact size of the circuit cannot be deter- mined without an examination of the several acts bounding the counties, and fixing their territorial jurisdiction. Of that circuit
HON. CHARLES H. TEST
was the president judge. At that day he was already a lawyer of note. He acted as president judge of the Allen circuit court until 1833. Dur- ing the legislature of 1845, Governor Whitcomb, being opposed to the continuance upon the bench of the supreme court of the state, of Judges Dewey and Sullivan, sent the names of Judge Test and Andrew David- son to the senate as their successors. The senate not being on friendly terms with the governor, rejected the nominations. From 1849to 1853 Judge Test was secretary of state. In subsequent years, he was for ~ long time judge of a circuit court in the northwestern part of the state. He also lived for some years at Indianapolis, and died at Lafayette, sub- sequent to 1883.
The tenth term of the Allen circuit court, and the first after the county became part of the sixth circuit, commenced on the 10th day of May, 1830, Judge Test, the president judge, and associate judge, Hood, presiding. At that term, and until the latter part of the yr 1831 JAMES PERRY was prosecuting attorney. He lived at Cent ville, Wayne county, and continued to reside there in the practice of the law until he was nearly ninety years of age. At that term also, David H. Colerick, then a young lawyer from Ohio, was sworn in as an attor- ney, ex gratia, for the term. For a proper notice of the subsequent brilliant and useful life of Mr. Colerick, we refer to subsequent pages. William J. Brown was prosecuting attorney at the April term of the court, in 1832, and Samuel C. Sample at the October term of the same year. During the year 1830 and until the April term, IS31, Messrs. Hood and Cushman remained the associate judges. At the April term, 1831, and during the remainder of Judge Test's service, Messrs. Hood and L. G. Thompson were associate judges.
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By an act of the legislature, approved on the 2nd day of February, 1832, LaGrange county was organized and made a part of the sixth circuit, along with Allen. The boundaries of the county were fixed as they now are, but by another section of the act, all the territory lying east of the county, to the Ohio state line, and south so as to include all of what now is DeKalb and Noble counties, except one row of town- ships on the south, was attached to the county for civil and judicial purposes. The county was named, as stated by one of the state his- torians, " in respect to the residence of General Lafayette in France."
By an act of the legislature approved on the 7th day of January, 1833, the eighth judicial circuit was created, embracing the counties of Car- roll, Cass, Allen, LaGrange, Elkhart, St. Joseph, LaPorte, Huntington, Wabash and Miami. The boundaries of the three last named were fixed by an act of February, 1832. A section of the act provided that the several parts of the new counties should remain as they then were, for judicial purposes. The boundaries of Wabash and Miami counties were further defined by an act approved on the 30th day of January, 1833. Huntington county, as stated in the act first above mentioned, was named in honor of Samuel Huntington, one of the signers of the declaration of independence. Wabash county is supposed to have taken its name from the Wabash river, and Miami from the confederacy of Indians which inhabited this portion of the state. Miami county was fully organized under an act approved February 1, 1834, Huntington county, under an act approved February 1, 1834, and Wabash county under an act approved January 22, 1835. Of that circuit
GUSTAVUS A. EVERTS
was judge, and continued to act as judge of the Allen circuit court from the April term, 1833, until after the March term, 1836. He was about forty years of age, and resided at South Bend, the county seat of St. Joseph county. He was a lawyer of moderate ability, and not especially popular with a portion of the bar at Fort Wayne. The associate judges who presided during that period were Messrs. Hood and Thompson, above mentioned, William G. Ewing, David Rankin and Peter Huling. During that period also, John B. Chapman and Samuel C. Sample were prosecuting attorneys, the former for two years, and the latter for one year.
In 1834 Carroll county was taken from the eighth circuit, and made a part of the first. The boundaries of the counties of Noble, De- Kalb, Steuben, Adams and Whitley were fixed by an act of the legislature approved February 7, 1835. By an act approved Feb- ruary 6, 1836, the county of Whitley was attached to Huntington · county in the eighth circuit, for judicial purposes. The county is said to have been named in honor of Col. William Whitley, of Lin- coln county, Ky., and of the bravest and most hospitable pioneers of that state, who fell at the battle of the Thames. Noble county, as XXIX
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stated in the act, was named " in honor of the late Hon. James Noble." The county was organized as a county under an act of the legislature, approved February 4, 1836, and attached to the eighth judicial circuit. Adams county was named in honor of President Adams. It was fully organized under an act of the legislature approved January 22, 1836. By an act approved February 4, 1836, it was attached to the eighth judicial circuit, as were also the counties of Fulton, Kosciusko, Marshall and Porter. The eighth circuit, thus, in 1836, embraced the counties of Cass, Miami, Wabash, Huntington, Allen, LaGrange, Elkhart, St. Joseph, LaPorte, Porter, Marshall, Fulton, Kosciusko, Noble and Adams, including the territory attached to the several counties for judi- cial purposes. Of that large circuit,
SAMUEL C. SAMPLE
became the president judge in 1836. His first service as judge in Allen county was at the September term, 1836. As already stated, he had been prosecuting attorney during the time Judge Everts was on the bench. He lived at South Bend, and was about forty years of age when he went upon the bench. He was the president judge of the Allen cir- cuit court for less than one year. He represented this district in con- gress, and subsequently went into the State Bank at South Bend, where he died. During the time he was upon the bench, the associate judges were Peter Huling and David Rankin.
During that time JOSEPH L. JERNEGAN, of South Bend, was prosecut- ing attorney. He was a very brilliant man, and one of the best lawyers in northern Indiana. He subsequently removed to New York city, and accumulated a fortune by the practice of the law.
The county of Steuben was fully organized as a county under an act approved January 18, 1837, and named in honor of Baron Steuben, a Prussian officer of distinction, who joined the American army during the revolutionary war, and rendered valuable service to the struggling colonies. DeKalb was fully organized as a county under an act approved January 14, 1837, and was given its name in memory of Gen. DeKalb, a revolutionary officer of German descent, who was killed in the battle of Camden. By that act also, the county was attached to the eighth judi- cial circuit. The boundaries of Wells county having been fixed by the act above mentioned, approved February 7, 1835, the county was fully organized under an act approved February 2, 1837.
By an act approved on the 9th day of December, 1837, the eighth judicial circuit was reduced in size and made to embrace the counties of Cass, Miami, Wabash, Huntington, Allen, Adams, Wells, Jay, DeKalb, Steuben, Noble, LaGrange and Whitley. Jay county had been organ- ized under an act approved January 30, 1836.
CHARLES W. EWING
was president judge of the eighth circuit in 1837, and remained the judge of the Allen circuit court until after the March term, 1839. As
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we have seen, Mr. Ewing was appointed prosecuting attorney at the first term of the Allen circuit court, in 1824. The father of Mr. Ewing was born in Pennsylvania, and was of Irish parentage. Charles W. was born in the state of New York, his father having become a resi- dent of that state. In subsequent years the father moved with his family, first to what is now Monroe, in the state of Michigan, and then to Washington, now known as Piqua, Ohio, and resided at the latter place and at Troy, seven miles away, until 1822. In that year he moved to Fort Wayne, and died in 1827, leaving a valuable property. It is said by those who knew him, that Judge Ewing was a good lawyer for his day, and quite an orator, but eccentric. He came to an unfortunate death, when he ought to have been in the vigor and prime of his life. During the time he was president judge, the associate judges were Peter Huling, Nathaniel Coleman, Michael Shiras and Marshall S. Wines. During the most of that time, Thomas Johnson was prose- cuting attorney.
By an act of the legislature approved January 22, 1839, the eighth judicial circuit was made to embrace the counties of Cass, Miami, Wa- bash, Huntington, Allen, Whitley, Noble, LaGrange, Steuben and DeKalb. Of that circuit
HENRY CHASE
became president judge by appointment in August, 1839, and remained the judge of the Allen circuit court for a little over one year. Judge Chase lived in Logansport, the county seat of Cass county. He was about thirty-nine years old when he went upon the bench, and as we have been informed by a lawyer still living, who was acquainted with the early judges of the different circuits to which Allen county was attached, he was one of the best judges of his day. During the time he was judge of the Allen circuit court, the associate judges were Nathaniel Coleman and Marshall S. Wines. During that time John W. Wright was prosecuting attorney. The circuit was the same when
JOHN W. WRIGHT,
of Logansport, who had the year before been prosecuting attorney, be- came the president judge in 1840. He remained the judge of the Allen circuit court for about two years.
Judge Wright was born at Lancaster, Ohio, in 1811. He gradu- ated at the Ohio university in 1832, and went to Logansport, Ind., a year later, and began in a short time the practice of the law. He was judge for five years, including two years that Allen county was in his circuit. After retiring from the bench he was elected mayor of Logans- port. He also had somewhat to do with banking and railroad affairs. In 1858 he was elected to the legislature on the democratic ticket, but declined the office, and went to Kansas to take part in preventing the state from becoming a slave state. The same year he was elected to
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the Kansas constitutional convention, and afterward to the legislature of the state, and was made speaker of the house. . A few years subsequent he returned to Logansport. A short time after the inauguration of President Lincoln he removed to Washington, D. C., and made that his permanent residence until the time of his death, on the 9th of October, 1889. It is said that he prospered in his profession there, and left a competency to his children.
During the time that he was judge of the Allen circuit court, the asso- ciate judges were Nathaniel Coleman, Marshall S. Wines and J. H. Mc- Mahon. During the most of that time LUCIEN P. FERRY was prosecuting attorney. During the balance of the time the office was held by WIL- LIAM H. COOMBS, a proper notice of whom is given hereafter.
By an act of the legislature, approved December 14, 1841, the judi- cial circuits were changed and a new, and twelfth judicial circuit was created, embracing the counties of Allen, Adams, Wells, Huntington, Whitley, Noble, Steuben, LaGrange and DeKalb. Of that circuit,
JAMES W. BORDEN
became president judge in 1842, and remained judge of the Allen cir- cuit court until 1851. During that period the associate judges were Nathaniel Coleman, R. Starkweather, J. H. McMahon and Andrew Metzgar. During that time, William H. Coombs was prosecuting attor- ney for more than one year. For one year of the time, L. C. JACOBY was prosecuting attorney. He resided at Fort Wayne for many years thereafter, but finally located in the practice of the law in the west, where he still is. He was a lawyer of fair ability, but had some pecu- liar eccentricities. For two years during the period named, ROBERT L. DOUGLAS was prosecuting attorney. He lived at Angola, the county seat of Steuben county. He was a good lawyer, a man of culture, and an accomplished orator. In 1851 he removed to Council Bluffs, Iowa, engaged in the practice of the law, and accumulated a forture. He died a number of years ago while on a visit in Florida.
Following Mr. Douglas, ELZA A. McMAHON was prosecuting attor- ney for one year, commencing with the year 1846. Following him, and beginning with the year 1847, JOSEPH BRACKENRIDGE was prosecu- ting attorney for three years. For an adequate notice of him, reference is made to following pages. Of his successor, also, JAMES L. WOR- DEN, who served as prosecuting attorney for three years, beginning with the year 1850, mention is hereafter made at length.
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