USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Springfield > An address, delivered in the new court house, in Springfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts, at the dedication of the same, April 28, 1874 : containing sketches of the early history of the old county of Hampshire and the county of Hampden, and of the members of the bar in those counties, with an appendix > Part 4
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HON. SAMUEL PUTNAM,
whose long service on the bench made him well acquainted with the profession in all the counties of the Commonwealth, was a most thorough and well-read lawyer. He was not so quick and ready in his apprehension of cases as some of his associates ; but he never suffered a case to go to the jury without a full understanding of it. He was exceedingly val- uable as a judge at the hearings of the law term. He made a great use of his books ; and his opinions, and especially his dis- senting opinions, exhibit great industry and talent in their prepa- ration. In his manners upon the bench, he was the embodiment of kindness and good nature ; nor did, I presume, any member of the bar ever see in him an instance of pettishness or ill-nature. Socially, he was a most agreeable and entertaining gentleman. He had seen much of the leading men of the former generation, and his anecdotes of them, his sketches of their peculiarities and their talents were interesting and instructive. I remember his description of a very eminent and learned lawyer, who was well versed in Coke and Fleta, but who did not imitate the style of Bacon and Seldon. He spoke of the singular terseness of his peroration in an action for a breach of the marriage promise. He represented him, in his manner of address, as standing with bowed head, hands behind him, and with closed eyes, turning now to the judge and now to the jury until he had succeeded in get- ting his back to the tribunal that was to assess the damages ;
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and, after finishing his comment upon the perfidy of the man, who, after a long courtship, had proved faithless to his vows, he closed his address with the following personal appeal : "And now, Mr. Foreman and gentlemen of the jury, I put the ques- tion to you, and to each one of you, on the subject of damages, what would you have your daughter bamboozled over in that sort of a way for ?"
THE HON. SAMUEL S. WILDE
had been long upon the bench, prior to my recollection of it, and he remained upon it until 1850, when the infirmities of age compelled him to resign. He was a practitioner at the bar in the district of Maine, at the time of his appointment, and was in the enjoyment of a large practice. At the time of the in- corporation of Maine as a State, he removed to Massachusetts, and thus our Commonwealth received the benefit of his judicial experience. It has always seemed to me that he was born for a judge ; or, if not so born, he took to the duties of the office at an early age. He was apparently an unimpassioned man. Not that he was void of passion, or zeal ; for no one could look at those expressive gray eyes that occasionally lighted up with an intensity of animation, or that long, thin face, that most strongly expressed the varying emotions of his heart, without being sensible, that, if his passions were not at all times re- strained and controlled by the sense of duty, there existed a hidden fire, which might break forth and overleap those bounds, which he had prescribed for his judicial conduct. But those bounds he never passed. During the long period of his judicial career, I never saw in him the exhibition of peevishness or pas- sion, or heard from him a word calculated to wound the feelings of a member of the bar. He entertained an unbounded respect for the administration of the law ; and even in what are called " hard cases " he could not be swerved from carrying out its provisions. Probably no one of his associates was so familiar with the practice of real actions,-his knowledge of real estate law having been acquired in Maine, in the numerous suits to settle the disputed land titles in that State. His opinions are distinguished for their brevity and their plainness. They are not essays, or treatises upon topics of the law to which the cases ,relate ; but they are simply decisions of the points in contro-
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versy, and the reasons for those decisions. In his charges to the jury, he was singularly lucid and intelligible. He was brief in his addresses, and he seemed, by his wonderful power of generalization, to present the questions of fact to them in a manner plain to their understandings. He may have had disa- greements of the juries ; but in such cases it must have been from the extremes of stupidity, or wickedness. And yet no member of the court was accustomed to say and do so much, in the way of admonition to the counsel to hurry on the progress of the case. It used to be said at the bar, that if a lawyer did not well understand his own case, Judge Wilde would soon know more of it than he did. A counselor once apologized to the jury for the time he expected to consume in the argument of a very complicated case. He said it must be necessary for him to trouble them for more than an hour. "You are mis- taken !" said Judge Wilde ; " I never argued a case longer than three-quarters of an hour in my life. An hour is as good as a week!"
THE HON. LEVI LINCOLN
was appointed to the bench in 1824, and remained upon it but one year. I saw him but once as a presiding judge, and I well recollect his charge to the jury. He was of an ardent and ex- citable temperament, and seemed to present the case with the zeal of a counselor. Such is too apt to be the failing of a new judge, who goes from the excitement of the bar to. the quiet dignity of the bench ; and he would probably have changed his course of conduct had not the popular voice called him to a po- sition, which, for nine years, he illustrated with wonderful execu- tive ability.
His successor upon the bench, was the
HON. MARCUS MORTON,
who commenced his judicial career in 1825, and remained in office until 1840, when, to the general regret of the bar of the Commonwealth, he resigned a situation he was so well qualified to fill with honor and usefulness, for one which is sometimes considered,-erroneously considered,-as of more dignity. It would seem to many, at the present day, that the position in which Judge Morton was placed was one of peculiar embarrass-
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ment. The members of the bar were for the most part mem- bers of the whig party, and most decided in their political senti- ments. He was not only a democrat, but he was put forward by his party as a candidate for the chief executive magistracy. It is natural to suppose, that, in a time of great political excite- ment, the relation of the parties-the bar and the judge-would be constrained and formal, and that there could be no cordial sympathy between them. But such was not the fact. The amenities of professional life would of course restrain any open breach of decorum within the precincts of the court room ; but in the parlor, and in all those social entertainments where they were thrown together, there was no constraint and no want of sympathy. They met in the parlors in full communion of spirit, and there was no separating wall to divide them. Politics were discussed, party relations and anecdotes were narrated, but they were discussed by them not like partisans, but like gentlemen, and like brethren of the bar ; nor do I remember, in all the long intercourse of many, many years, one single expression to ruffle the sensitiveness of any one of the company.
I happened to meet the judge as he was leaving the custom house, after the appointment of his successor. I expressed my regret, and the regret of our bar, that he ever should have ex- changed the judicial ermine for any offices which a party could have bestowed. He pressed my hand and said: "I regret the separation more deeply than any other person can do. I shall never forget the many hours that I have spent with the bar of the Connecticut river. That decision has been the great mistake of my life!"
THE HON. CHARLES A. DEWEY
relinquished his practice in Berkshire county, removed to North- ampton, and became a partner of Hon. Isaac C. Bates. They had a large and extensive practice at the time when he was ap- pointed to the office of judge, in 1837. He remained in office till his death, in 1866, a period of twenty-nine years. He had a great familiarity with practice, and particularly with crimi- nal practice, he having held the office of district attorney from the time of the creation of the office, in 1832, to his appointment to the bench. He was of great urbanity of manner, a thorough and accurate lawyer, and a most agreeable judge. The law
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terms of the supreme court were held at Northampton, for the three river counties, and the leading counsel of Hampshire, Hampden and Franklin used to come together there to argue their cases. The spacious mansion of Judge Dewey was always thrown open upon those occasions, at a social party to the court, the bar and their families, who frequently made a point of being present, and to the elegant and refined society of the town. The parties were not vapid and formal collections of discord- ant individuals, but were an annual and social re-assemblage of parted friends. Their professional communion was always hightened by a profusion of delicate viands ; and a copious variety of liquid beverages, produced that overflow of well- bred jollity that poetry ascribes to the effects of the fruit of the vine.
I am far from intimating that it was only at the hospitable mansion of Judge Dewey, that the members of the bar of the three counties were accustomed to assemble in social and con- vivial converse. A short time after supper, the members of the court were accustomed to betake themselves to the law library, or to the private library of Judge Dewey, to discuss, and, if practicable, to decide, such cases as did not require a more ex- tended examination ; and, of course, the members of the bar were left to indulge themselves in conversation, and in those enjoyments that are common to kindred souls. Their minds gradually tired of legal discussions. Grave disquisitions light- ened into political and literary conversation. These were suc- ceeded by jokes and anecdotes, until, at last, their souls broke forth into song ; and it was not seldom that the culmination of the evening's enjoyment was a frugal supper. Generally it so happened, that, about the time for the evening symposium, the judges had adjourned from their consultation. They cheerfully took and maintained their seats at the table; and, during these relaxations from the toils of judicial life, they contributed from their stores of social experiences, to the prolonged enjoyments of lengthened nights. I ought not to omit, that, for years, Hon. Samuel L. Hinckley, a member of the bar of Hampshire county, was the sheriff of the county ; and it was his pleasure, which he performed as regularly as though it were a duty, to open his hospitalities to his professional brethren.
At the decease of Chief Justice Parker, in 1830, there was a
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deep-felt anxiety relative to the appointment of his successor. The two senior members of the bench were of about the same age and judicial service ; and each one of them was well quali- fied for the office. There were very many of the profession who had such a reverence for the character and talent of Judge Wilde, and such an admiration of his capacity for the adminis- tration of business, that a strong wish was expressed for his appointment. But the governor was an acquaintance of the Hon. Lemuel Shaw, and had known him when he was a mem- ber of the Legislature, and also in professional business; and he astonished, at least, the western part of the Commonwealth, by nominating him for the vacant office. Never, perhaps, has there been a more fortunate appointment. He was in the full meridian of his days, and at the height of his usefulness ; and though he was only known to the profession in this vicinity, through the medium of the Reports, he soon vindicated, by his knowledge of the law, the wisdom of the executive. For a period of thirty years, he discharged the duties of the office of chief justice ; and his judicial opinions extend through fifty- eight volumes of our law reports. They are cited, not only in the courts of all the States of this Union, but also in the courts of all countries that adopt the common law. Each opinion is exhaustive of the subject for consideration ; and the cases are rare where any judicial tribunal presumes to over-rule an opin- ion of Chief Justice Shaw. He was deeply imbued with the learning of the old authors, and had read with zest those quaint, and almost obsolete reports, which now but rarely find a reader. His mind was stored with an accurate knowledge of the com- mon law, and he made frequent reference to it in his decisions. His opinions disclose his familiarity with it. Instead of declar- ing what the law is, and referring to an adjudged case, as an authority for it, he begins by a reference to the general princi- ple that governs it. and only refers to the cases, for the purpose of reconciling discordant opinions, or showing in what respect they are the true declaration of what the law is. Every one who examines his opinions is struck with their comprehensive nature. His decisions are not each one a barren declaration, ita lex, with a short application of the law to the facts ; but he labors, rather, to make each case the subject of a disquisition upon that branch of the law ; and by an explication of the prin-
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ciples of the common law, to establish the general rule by which all such cases must be governed.
But it is not my purpose to depict the legal attainments of the chief justice. I propose, rather, to present to you my rec- ollections of him as a man. He was a large, powerful man, though rather short, with a large head, and a face of unprepos- sessing appearance. Upon the bench, his manners were some- times stern and austere. This did not arise from an acerbity of disposition, but from the engrossment of his mind with the present objects of his thought. No man had a kinder heart or a more generous nature ; or, as I believe, was more anxious to avoid offense to the members of the bar, however his conduct, at times, might seem to the contrary.
I remember a laughable incident, which illustrates the habits and manners both of Chief Justice Shaw and Judge Wilde. The late Chief Justice Wells, of the common pleas, when at the bar, was arguing a case in bank, and, after concluding his remarks on one point, stated his next at length to the court. Judge Wilde, whose honest bluntness was too well known ever to give offense, remarked to Mr. Wells, "If you have got no better point than that, you had better give up your case." Mr. Wells replied that the general principle seemed to be in favor of it, and he had seen no contradictory decision ; however, he said, he would submit it to the court; and then went on with his argument. In a few moments the chief justice said, in a loud and abrupt voice, " Mr. Wells !" The latter stopped sud- denly in alarm, and the chief justice said, " Judge Wilde did not intend to disturb your feelings, or to prevent you from arguing your case in your own manner, sir !" Mr. Wells, who had for- gotten the injury for which the chief justice was apologizing, or, rather, into whose mind it had never passed, replied to him, inquiringly, "I do not understand your honor !" "Why," said he, " Judge Wilde only meant to intimate a present opinion of his own ; he did not intend to injure your feelings, but he is willing to hear and consider your views." "O," said Mr. Wells, " I've known Judge Wilde too long and too well to suppose him guilty of any unkindness." Judge Wilde, who, during this col- loquy, had been in a quandary as to the meaning of it, and won- dering, though hearing his name, what he had to do with it, exclaimed, " Oh, yes ; Brother Wells knows too much of me to take offense at what I say! Go on !"
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A delightful trait in the character of the chief justice was his readiness to yield his preconceived opinions during the trial of a case, when he was convinced that he was in the wrong. There are men, who, once having advanced an opinion, some- times without such reflection as to make it a matter of judg- ment, will persist and adhere to it with the more pertinacity, the deeper they are in the wrong. Like Dr. Sangrado,-whose book recommended bleeding and hot water, and which treat- ment he was advised to abandon, because he made more widows by it than were made at the siege of Troy, and who declared that he would continue the treatment, though all the nobility, clergy and the people should perish,-they continue to maintain a loosely expressed opinion, when firmness has degenerated into obstinacy. But Judge Shaw had no pride of opinion. If such a simple-minded man could be conceived to ever act a part for the exhibition of stage artifice, he might rather be supposed to pretend to change, and yield his opinions, for the purpose of showing, by an example, how a strong and reasoning intellect can sacrifice intellectual pride at the shrine of truth. Upon one occasion, in a reported case, he startled the plaintiff's counsel, by asking if he had a case to show that the grantors of the plaintiff had a continuing authority ; and, after a few sug- gestions, he expressed a decided opinion to the contrary and reported the case. At the hearing at the law term the counsel for the defendant declined to argue, alleging the decided opinion of the chief justice at the trial. "That is nothing to do with it !" said he ; " that was my opinion then, without argument or authority. But was I right ? That is the question now. You have heard the argument ; I should like to hear your reply to it." The decision was reversed.
Of the varied knowledge of the chief justice, his extraordi- nary powers, and the sympathy with which his faculties were blended into one harmonious character, no one, who has not seen him when he was off from the bench and released from the thoughts and restraints of judicial cares, can form an adequate conception. When we have seen him in court,-either deciding the incidental questions, that suddenly arise at a nisi prius trial, often with but an extemporaneous argument and meagre authori- ties, or drawing up from that "deep well," of which Lord Coke saith that "every man draweth according to the strength of his
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understanding," those principles of the law that had been recog- nized by the court,-we have been astonished at the breadth of his comprehension, the minuteness of his observation, and the strength of that chain of reasoning that led us along, so irre- sistibly, to the truth he labored to establish. He was not aided, in the impressions he produced upon us, by any adventitious circumstances. His voice was low and indistinct, his face dull and heavy, and his manner and style dry and painfully elaborate. But his learning seemed to well up without labor or effort, like water from an artesian well, from some inexhaustible subterra- nean fountain.
When we saw him in private life, either at the hotel, during the sessions of the court, in the parlor, with his professional brethren, during those delightful evenings when the awakened thoughts of the past, gleamed like a dream of recollections, of which all the harsh realities are softened and subdued by the kindly illusions of each man's heart ; or at the frequent associa- tions of his friends, at the entertainments of the club, it was there, that he disclosed that diversity of learning, that made all his companions his eager listeners. He loved those social gather- ings. He was no epicure ; but he was fond of the pleasures of the table, including the liquid ones. They seemed to soften his heart, to wean him from the habit of meditating so constantly, more upon the rights of persons and the rights of things, than upon his intercourse with his fellow-men,-a habit which has a tendency to render a judge formal, reserved and austere, and to quench that sympathy between a judicial magistrate and the people, which it is so desirable to promote. Upon all these occasions his companions were made to feel how abundant were the stores of his information. What the poet said of Henry V., and which has been so pertinently applied to Alexander Hamilton, may well be said of the chief justice :
" Hear him but reason in divinity, And, all admiring, with an inward wish, You would desire the king were made a prelate ; Hear him debate of Commonwealth affairs, You would say,-it hath been all in all his study ; Turn him to any cause of policy, The Gordian knot of it he will unloose Familiar as his garter."
He understood thoroughly the science of music. He was
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acquainted with the structure of the church organ, and of the inherent difficulty of so constructing it as to express all the tones of the musical scale. He invented an improvement upon the piano, which is now in common use. "It occurred to me," said he, " that by raising the bass strings from the plane of the other strings, and stretching them across the center of the sound- ing-board, it would give room for the elongation of the strings, and thus increase the volume of sound. I made the suggestion to my tenant, and he adopted it ;" and now we have the inven- tion in many of our families. He was familiar with the racy songs of Charles and Thomas Dibdin, and the other old song- sters, whose names have passed from memory, and we have often been furnished in these counties, with the best evidence that he was familiar with the tunes, also. On one occasion, he went to one of the whip factories of Westfield, to examine their nice and beautiful machinery. He regarded it with great atten- tion ; and, as he left the factory, he desired to descend to the basement and examine the motive power. Having examined the form of the wheel, he proceeded to give a scientific disserta- tion upon the powers of the different water-wheels.
It is impossible to estimate, or to exaggerate the usefulness of such a man as Chief Justice Shaw. The duties of a judge are performed within the walls of a court-house, or in his own library, where there are few or no witnesses; and, even in the court-house, the judge who discharges his duties with the least noise and tumult, and who sways the progress of trials, by his own dignity, in silent power, is generally the more useful judge. When he pronounces an opinion, how little do the people know how many silent hours have been spent over the midnight lamp in the preparation for it. Consider for a moment the thirty years of his judicial life! How many thousands of cases have passed under his examination and determination ! Of how many millions of acres of real estate, of how many homes of our citi- zens, have the titles depended upon his decision ! What untold millions of dollars have been changed from man to man, or have been suffered to remain with their original possessors, because of the law that he has declared ! How many innocent lives have been preserved ! How many persons entrenched in their power and pride have been arrested and punished, because he has meted out the law with fearless and unswerving justice !
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And with all those thousands of persons, whose interests have been affected by his judicial determination, who has ever ques- tioned its impartial justice ? Who has not felt, that, if at any period, during his long and useful career, the secrets of his heart could have been thrown open, it would have disclosed no taint, no judicial stain ? At the end of a long and useful life, we followed him to his grave with reverence and veneration ; and we felt that to him the language of a quaint old English lawyer, in relation to Sir James Croke, might well be applied : He remained upon the highest seat of dignity and usefulness, " till a certiorari came from the Great Judge of heaven and earth, to remove him from a human bench of law, to a heavenly throne of glory."
Of the members of the bar of the county of Hampden, who were in practice at the time I commenced attending court, or even at the time of my admission to it, all are now deceased, except
NORMAN T. LEONARD.
He was admitted to practice in the county of Berkshire in 1824, and was admitted as an attorney of the supreme court in 1827. At that time he resided in Feeding Hills, West Springfield, and in 1830 he removed to Westfield.
JOHN INGERSOLL
was the oldest member of the bar in this county, except Hon. George Bliss. He was admitted to the supreme court in 1797 at Northampton, and resided at Westfield. At the time of the division of the old county of Hampshire, and the formation of this county, in 1812, he was appointed clerk of the court, and removed to Springfield. During his residence in Westfield, he and my father, ELIJAH BATES, were for many years the only lawyers in Westfield, and lived opposite to each other on the same street, in the closest terms of intimacy. Mr. Ingersoll was a most estimable man, and a useful member of society. It is narrated, that an aged lady of Westfield was much dissatisfied with the "woe " that was pronounced upon lawyers ; for, she said, that both Esquire Ingersoll and Esquire Bates were really too good men to be sent to hell ! Mr. Ingersoll was graduated in 1790, and Elijah Bates in 1794, and the latter was admitted to the bar in 1797.
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