USA > Kansas > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, Kansas > Part 20
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On December 13th, 1872, the county attorney asked a continuance on account of the absence of an important witness, which request was denied, and on the next day he asked leave of court to nolle the case, and this application was also overruled, whereupon, after a brief trial, de- fendants Cauffman and Ripley were acquitted. The other defendant, Coberly, was never apprehended. This case arose from the claim that some one charged with, or suspicioned of, being guilty of some offense, had been lynched near Havana, in the county.
At the time rumors of corruption and bribery on the bench, were rife, in connection with this case. Whether there was any foundation for such rumors, will probably never be determined, and being mere rumors, it is but fair, in the absence of authentication, to say they were groundless, so far as the court was concerned. At all events, this oc- eurred at the last term of court ever held in the county by Judge Henry G. Webb.
On January 21st, 1873, the lower house of the Kansas Legislature, adopted the following resolution : "Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed to investigate charges againts H. G. Webb, judge of the 11th Judicial Distriet, with power to send for persons and papers."
On January 22nd, 1873, the same body passed an amendatory resolu- tion, increasing the number of the committee to investigate such charges to fire instead of three.
On January 23rd, 1873, the lower house adopted the following reso- lution :
"Resolved, The committee heretofore appointed by resolution of this house to investigate charges against H. G. Webb, Judge of the Eleventh Judicial Distriet of the State of Kansas, be and is hereby authorized and required to investigate all charges of bribery, corruption and misconduct
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in office against said H. G. Webb and to report to this house as soon as practicable whether the said H. G. Webb has so acted in his judicial capacity as to require the interposition of the constitutional power of impeachment of the house. and for the purpose of this investigation the committee is hereby authorized and empowered to subpoena and send for all necessary persons and papers and each member of said committee is hereby authorized and empowered to administer oaths and affirmations, and said committee is hereby authorized to employ a clerk."
On February 15th, 1873, the committee, therefore, appointed to in- vestigate the charges againts Judge Webb, made a report as follows:
"Mr. Speaker. Your select committee to whom was referred the in- vestigation of accusations against H. G. Webb, Judge of the Eleventh Judicial District, of the State of Kansas, beg leave to report that Judge Webb has tendered his resignation to take effect on the 21st day of Feb- ruary, 1873, and the same has been filed and accepted by His Excellency the Governor; therefore, the committee asks to be discharged from any further investigation of the case, and recommend the testimony taken in the investigation. be filed with the Secretary of State, subject to the or- der of this House." "W. H. MAPES, Chairman."
"The report was adopted."
On the same day Mr. Hutchings offered the following resolution :
"Resolved, That the committee heretofore appointed to investigate charges against H. G. Webb, Judge of the Eleventh Judicial Distriet, be discharged from further consideration of the subject and that the testi- mony be not printed, but filed in the office of the Secretary of State sub- ject to the order of this House."
"Which was, on motion, adopted."
Judge Henry G. Webb was a most remarkable man. Nature had endowed him with a lavish hand. He was a man of powerful physique and possessed of a natural mental power that rarely falls to the lot of man. He was well equipped to fill any high station in life.
In the discussion of a legal proposition, or in the elaboration of any subject he chose to talk upon, he was most instructive and entertaining. He always spoke in a deep, deliberate and sonorous voice, softened by a musical melody that was charming to hear. His language on such oe- easions was chaste, well chosen and refined. He was a man whose name might have lived prominently in history a century or more after his death. With his great and brilliant mind, he lacked ambition beyond his inelination to gratify the tastes of the hour.
JUDGE BISHOP W. PERKINS. at the age of thirty-one years was, in March, 1873, appointed by Governor Thomas A. Osborn, Judge of the District Court to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Judge Henry G. Webb.
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At the next election for judge, Mr. Perkins was the Republican can- didate to succeed himself against Mon. John M. Scudder, an attorney of Coffeyville, Kansas, an independent candidate. His large district then composing four populous counties, was overwhelmingly Republican and he was elected by a safe majority, notwithstanding his own county (Labette) which was thoroughly Republican, voted in favor of his op- ponent. The adverse vote in Labette county was occasioned by the fact that a few years before the election, while Judge Perkins was Probate Judge of the county, the large estate of one Ames, deceased, had been diverted from the rightful heirs and given to a spurious claimant, who had fraudulently secured a record of the Probate Court showing his adoption as the son and heir of said deceased. Bitter litigation arose over the event during the time Judge Perkins was serving the remainder of Judge Webb's term. It was boldly charged during Judge Perkins' ean- vass that he was a party to the fraud, and as boldly denied by the judge, who had in a short time he had served on the bench, become very popular, and had won the confidence of the people, to such an extent, that the affair exercised but little influence in the election, outside of Labette county.
Four years afterward Judge Perkins was again elected for another term of four years, and at the end of his last term, entered upon his duties as one of the four congressmen-at-large from the State, to which office he had been elected while serving on the bench.
When Judge Perkins first went upon the bench, he possessed neither the natural ability nor the legal learning of his predecessor, but in many other respects was far superior in fitness for the position. While he was young and of somewhat limited experience in the practice, he at once demonstrated administrative ability of a high order. This, with his un- flagging energy and tireless industry, aided by the fine bars, particularly in this and Labette county, enabled him during his entire term to dis- pose of the court's business satisfactorily to the public generally.
Judge Perkins on the bench was courteous and fair and developed an unusual ability to clearly instruct a jury and also become a fine chancellor.
While the judge left a fine record after his ten years' service on the bench, he was distinctly a politician. As a political leader, he was rare- ly, if ever, excelled in the State.
He was popular, adroit, diplomatic, energetic and uncompromising in his political convictions; and these qualities, with a boundless ambi- tion to serve in a public position, kept him almost constantly in office from the time he came to Oswego, in April. 1869, 'till he was defeated in 1890, for congress, by Hon. Benjamin Clover, of Cowley county. After this inglorious defeat, the first he had ever met, he seems to have lost his
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political prestige, and never again served in a public office except for a few months in 1892 in the United States Senate, to which office he had been appointed by Gov. L. U. Humphrey to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Senator Plumb. The next legislature elected in his place Senator Wm. A. Peffer, a Populist, and at the same session his party friends refused his request to nominate him as the candidate for the minority party. This was perhaps the most galling and humiliating defeat he ever suffered.
Judge Perkins was born at Rochester, Loraine county. Ohio. October 18th, 1842. In July, 1862, he enlisted in the Union army and became a sergeant of his company. He was afterward detailed to act as lieuten- ant in a company of cavalry for special guerilla duty, in which he served 'till December. 1863. He remained in the service 'till mustered out at Nashville, Tennessee. in May. 1866. During his term of service after December. 1863. he filled successively the following army offices: Adju- tant of the 16th Colored Infantry and Captain of Company "C" in the same regiment. He was also. for a year, Acting Adjutant General of the post of Chattanooga and served as JJudge Advocate on the staff of General Gillem and also in the same position on the staff of General Steadman.
After leaving the army he resumed the study of law, and was, in 1867, admitted to practice; and in the same year located at Pierceton, Indiana, where he remained until he came to Oswego in 1869.
In the spring of 1869 he was appointed county attorney, and after his term had expired, became assistant county attorney, and afterward filled the following positions: Probate Judge of Labette county, Judge of the 11th Judicial District. Member of Congress and United States Senator.
He then settled in Washington, D. C., where he died on the 20th day of June, 1894. after a short illness.
JUDGE GEO. CHANDLER succeeded Hon. B. W. Perkins on the bench. He was born at Hermitage, Wyoming county, New York, on Sep- tember 20, 1842. and in 1848 moved with his family to Monroe. Wisconsin, where he remained until 1854. and then went to Shirland, Illinois, and spent his time for the next six years, working on a farm.
In 1860 he went to Beloit College in Wisconsin, and after pursuing his studies there for three years, entered the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and three years later was graduated from the famous law school of that renowned institution. He was then, in 1866, admitted to practice by the Supreme Court at Detroit, Michigan, and afterward in the same year, went into the law office of Messers. Conger & Hawes and began the practice at Janesville, Wisconsin, which he continued until
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early in 1872, when he removed to, and entered the practice of law at, Independence, Kansas.
On the 3rd day of April, 1872, on motion of J. D. MeCue he was ad- mitted to practice in the District Court of Montgomery county, on the certificate of his admission to the Circuit Court of Wisconsin.
Shortly after coming to Independence he formed a co-partnership with George R. Peck, a close friend, whom he had known at Janesville, Wisconsin, and who had, late in 1871, preceded him here. This new firm, under the style of Peck & Chandler, in a very short time establish- ed a lucrative practice, and its members very soon became well known as fine lawyers. The first office of this firm was upstairs in a frame building over Page's bank, at the corner of Main street and Pennsyl- vania avenue, and at the site of the present First National bank.
In 1873, the partners moved their office to the second story of a brick building recently completed by them on the east side of North Pennsyl- vania avenue and three doors south of the well known drug store of that early pioneer, J. H. Pugh.
When they came to this county, neither Mr. Chandler nor his part- ner "was abundantly blessed with this world's goods" and each was burdened with the necessity of providing a home for himself and wife. Each had youth, energy, good health, strength, a good library and bril- liant prospects.
Mr. Peck built a small plain, two room cottage, at the edge of the bluff on the Verdigris, at the east end of Myrtle street, and Mr. Chandler another, scarcely more pretentious, on the opposite side of the same street, nearly a mile west; these modest dwellings, which have been but slightly changed in the thirty years, or more, since they were erected, are often pointed out to strangers as the original habitations of the two bright and brainy young lawyers, who joined our bar in its infancy.
In January, 1874, Mr. Peck assumed the duties of the office of United States Attorney for the District of Kansas, to which he had been recently appointed, and the co-partnership theretofore existing between him and Mr. Chandler was shortly after dissolved. Mr. Chandler soon afterward formed a partnership with his younger brother, Joseph Chand- ler, and this firm, under the name and style of Geo. & Jos. Chandler, con- tinued in the practice until January, 1883, when he went upon the bench, and thereafter served as Judge of the 11th Judicial District until in April, 1888, when he became First Assistant Secretary of the Interior at Washington, under General Noble, and served with distinction in that position to the end of General Benjamin Harrison's administration in 1893. Since then Judge Chandler has remained in Washington in the practice of the law.
Judge Chandler was, in many respects, a remarkable man. It were
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useless, in the limited space allotted to us to attempt more than a very imperfect description of him as he was during his active practice and service on the bench here. for a period of more than sixteen years.
He was an imposing figure. Nature had moulded for him a massive frame, symmetrically constructed, and fully six feet tall, or more, with broad shoulders, and had given him a lofty yet somewhat awkward car- riage. It had also furnished him a very large and perfectly formed head and strongly carved features that at once marked him as a man of ex- traordinary physical and mental powers.
He was well prepared when he entered the practice here, early in 1872, and by assiduons reading and study and the aid of a very retentive memory, he, in a short time, became a learned and profound lawyer.
With all her lavish gifts, nature had imposed upon him some faults that detracted from that success which might have been his in the prae- tice, and shaded his career on the bench, where he displayed great ability ..
During his thirteen years of active practice here his exceedingly sensitive nature, impetuous disposition and untutored temper, often made him unpleasant to opposing counsel, and, at times, disagreeable to his own clients, whom he sometimes severely lectured for getting into the trouble he was employed to extricate them from. The high esteem in which he was held by members of the bar and the implicit confidence his clients had in him-together with his undoubted sincerity and in- tense devotion to the interests of those whom he served-furnished am- ple reasons in court, bar and clients, to overlook these faults.
Judge Chandler never entertained a very exalted opinion of the ability of a jury to settle "as of right it ought to be settled" complicated questions between litigant parties, and for that reason had a pitiable dread of entering upon the trial of a hotly contested case to a jury- he always made every case he tried a "hotly contested" one.
During any term of court at which he had cases involving enarnest- ly disputed questions of fact, he would dismiss, for the time being, the hilarious and rollicking ways with which he was accustomed to regale his many friends during vacation, and clothe himself in an armor of im- patience, petulence and irascibility and enter the struggle and fight the battle or battles with all the vehemence of a nature "filled to the brim" with courage, industry, energy, aggressiveness and unusual ability.
In the practice Mr. Chandler was exceedingly painstaking in thor- oughly posting himself on all questions of law involved in each of his cases ; and under the prevailing practice, in the early days, the argu- ments of attorneys to the jury always preceded the general instructions of the court. Often one or more pivotal questions of law went far in de- termining the issues ; and when that fact was brought to the attention of jurors, they eagerly watched for the instructions of the court to enlighten
-
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their understanding on such important questen or questions. Judge Chandler in those "days of long ago" sometimes began to "sum up" his case by addressing his remarks to the court on the questions of law in- volved and in that way influence the court in its instructions, which he rightly conelnded would be of vital importance. To his credit it may be said. that he never, in that unsafe practice that was indulged by his pre- decessor on the bench, misled the court. The law authorizing the peen- liar proceedure was amended in 1881, and since then the "beacon lights of the law" are given by the court to the jury and opposing counsel in advance of argument.
Judge Chandler's career on the bench began in January, 1883, and ended in April, 1889, and was distinguished by an unselfish devotion to duty, great energy and industry and signal ability. He carried to the bench the same impetuous disposition, quick temper and inelination to make unguarded remarks that were characteristic of him in the practice. While the jury was in attendance upon his court he rigorously exacted from the officers of the court the utilization of every moment of time. He was punctual to the instant, himself, and demanded the same prompt- ness from the members of the bar. The failure of an attorney to strictly observe this unyielding rule, rarely failed to draw from the court a severe lecture, that sometimes consumed more time than had been lost by the attorney's delay. In these lectures the topics of taxation and court expenses were often discussed and in their delivery the court fre- quently neglected to discriminate and applied his suggestions to all members of the bar instead of the one whose conduct had induced the scolding. On account of the frequency of these censures and admoni- tions they lost much of their force with the attorneys; yet they served to greatly increase the popularity of the judge with the unsophisticated who felt they never before could understand the "law's delays."
While such frequent outbursts from and unseemly conduct on the bench might seem to have emanated from a spirit of petty demagoguery, nothing can be more remote from the truth. In justice. it may be said, he never, by these. intended to wound the feelings of or do a wrong to another for his own aggrandizement. While it was somewhat foreign to his nature to offer an exeuse or apologize for a wrong once done. he was absolutely senseless to any pain or sacrifice inflicted on himself in the performance of any public duty he undertook; and his sterling in- tegrity. self sacrificing devotion to duty, magnificent ability and the known absence of any intention to do wrong. furnished ample excuse to the sometimes tortured members of the bar, to overlook and forgive.
Judge Chandler is now in Washington, D. C., practicing law, full of years, honors and experience and kindly remembered by his old friends of the Montgomery county bar.
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JUDGE JOHN N. RITTER. of Columbus, Kansas, was, in May, 1889, appointed by Governer L. U. Humphrey. Judge of the 11th Judicial Dis- triet, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge George Chandler, to accept the office of First Assistant Secretary of the Inter- ior at Washington. At that time the terms of the District Court of the county were required to convene on the first Tuesday in March, June and November. When Judge Ritter opened his first term of court in the county, on the first Tuesday in June, 1889, there were on the bar docket. as follows : Four cases standing on demurrer, eighteen criminal cases, sixty-seven civil jury and one hundred and sixty-four cases on the court docket; or a total of two hundred and fifty-three. Judge Ritter was without experience on the bench, and, of late years, had devoted much of his time to banking and was not in very robust health. Notwithstanding the great number of cases on the docket and the great district he was called upon to preside over, being the largest in the state, and his frail health, he acquitted himself creditably and gave general satisfaction.
At the fall election of 1889, he was the Republican candidate for the office, against Hon. J. D. McCue, who was elected. Judge Ritter, after his defeat at the polls, held a short term of court in the county in No- ber, 1889, after which his health continued to decline and in a short time he died at Battle Creek, Mich., whence he had gone seeking a restoration of his broken health.
JUDGE JEREMIAH D. MeCUE, the successor of Judge Ritter on the bench, opened his first regular term of court in the county on the first Tuesday of March, 1890. At that time, outside of the attorneys. the offi- cers of his court were, John W. Simpson, clerk ; Oliver P. Ergenbright. county attorney ; Thomas F. Callahan, sheriff; John Callahan (after- ward county attorney for two terms), under sheriff; and George Gled- hill, reporter.
The bar docket of that term showed three cases standing on de- murrer, fourteen criminal cases, thirty-five civil jury cases and 152 cases on the court docket, a total of 204. The election of Judge MeCue was a surprise, notwithstanding his eminent fitness for the position was well known to the members of the bar. He had been in the active practice in the county for about twenty years and had ever entertained an aspira- tion to "don the judicial ermine." Yet, inasmuch as the Republican par- ty, which he had always opposed, had, before that time, easily elected its candidates to the high position, to which his laudable ambition led, it seemed to go without the saying that he could not successfully combat its nominee and the same party had also, in a race for the office several years before, mercilessly defeated him. A still greater surprise awaited the members of the bar and Mr. MeCue's friends. In the practice and in his personal affairs he had been somewhat slaek and improvident,
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while on the bench he was at once a model judge. He was courteous and kind to the officers of his court, patient with all. prompt and thor- ough in the discharge of his duties; and in the thorough knowledge of the law and in the appreciation of the duties of the office, he had never been excelled by any who have performed its duties. His rulings on evi- dence and pleadings were ready and accurate and his instructions to juries, brief, clear and comprehensive.
While filling the remaining one year of the vacancy created by the resignation of Judge Chandler, he became a candidate for the office against Hon. A. B. Clark, who was the nominee of the Republican party. At the election, Judge MeCne was successful, having "run ahead of his ticket" and carried each county in the district. During the latter part of his second, or rather regular term, he was again a candidate and un- wisely made the race as an independent, without the endorsement or nomination of any political party, and was defeated by Hon. Andrew H. Skidmore, of Columbus, Kans., the Republican nominee. Shortly after his retirement from the bench, Judge MeQue removed to Kansas City, Mo., and there entered the practice of his profession, where he is now engaged in that pursuit.
The life of Judge McQue typifies, in a high degree, the successful ca- reer of a self-made man. He was born of Irish lineage, at Cincinnati, Ohio, on March 3, 1843, and left, by the death of both parents, a home- less and friendless orphan, at the age of five years. When nine years old he was taken to Indiana and shortly after to the State of Illinois, where, he has said. he was "buffeted from place to place without a permanent home or kindred until the breaking ont of the Civil War."
Just thirteen days after Fort Sumpter was fired upon and on the 25th day of April, 1861, he, then a diminutive specimen of scarcely one hundred pounds in weight, enlisted in the Union Army, and thereafter, as a private soldier, served until honorably discharged on June 5, 1865, because of serions wounds inflicted in battle at Fort Blakely, Ala., on April 9, of that year. His enviable record as a soldier does not belong to his career as a lawyer, and for that reason I refrain from further pur- suing his military life.
On his return from the war, he at once began the study of law, in the office of Amos F. Watterman, at New Boston, Ill., largely under .Judge John S. Thompson, a lawyer of eminent qualifications.
In the spring of 1867, at the age of twenty-four, after a searching examination, before the Supreme Court at Ottawa, Ill., he was admitted to practice law and shortly afterward, alone and almost penniless, he started west and landed among strangers, it is said, barefooted and in sranty habiliments, in Oswego, Kans., in July, 1867. While there he soon won for himself a place in the front rank of the renowned bar of that
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