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 6
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It will be recollected that in the year 1824, Lafayette, the early and faithful friend of the United States, paid a grateful visit to the scenes of his youthful sacrifices and dangers. He showed, on many occasions, that he had a wonderful recollection of persons, whose faces he had not seen for nearly half a cen-
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tury, and there were few large places which he visited, where there were not persons presented to him whom he called by name. But a memory of the strongest tenacity is not always infallible. When he visited Boston it was, of course, in the order of the performance, that he should be presented to as many as possible of his old acquaintances, all of whom he ap- peared anxious to see, as did they also to see him. A space of half a century having elapsed since their last meeting, both parties were prepared to expect time's changes; and it was wonderful that he should have been so often able to look through the wrinkles of eighty, upon the youthful face of thirty years. It happened at that time that Mr. Mills was a member of the Senate, and, with the other senators, he came up to the desk of the president of the convention, and was duly introduced to the Revolutionary hero as the Hon. John Mills, the Hampden Sen- ator. They shook hands with great cordiality ; and, as Lafay- ette rose up from his bowing position, his eye fell upon the polished head of the young senator. Looking at him with an intense gaze, a delightful recognition stole over his joyous features, and, taking again the hand of Mr. Mills in both of his own, and shaking it cordially, he exclaimed with fervid energy : " My dear friend, I recollect you in the Revolution !"
Succeeding, in right of his wife, to the handsome estate of his father-in-law, Mr. Mills removed to Springfield, and erected a beautiful residence upon one of its encircling hills. But he had left a profession, to the pursuit of which he was fully equal, for the hazards of an uncertain voyage upon a sea of commer- cial speculation. In a short time, one misfortune after another began to assail him. The sources of his confidence dried up. The desire to extend and accumulate, became a desperate strug- gle to retain. At last, the unwilling and bitter truth must have forced itself upon his conviction that, to a man whose youthful anticipations, whose growing desires, whose very life has been educated to the sure and proportionate rewards derivable from the exercise of an honorable profession, its compensations are more to be desired, than even the golden streams that follow the course of successful adventure.
THE HON. PATRICK BOISE
was a native of Blandford, and a graduate of Williams College. He studied law with his uncle, John Phelps of West Granville. 8
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He was admitted to the bar in 1815, and succeeded to the pro- fessional business of Mr. Phelps, who had been appointed to the office of sheriff of the county of Hampden. Here, for a time, his practice was extensive. The centralization process, by which the flourishing mountain towns have been gradually concentrating their industries in the cities and large towns, had not then commenced. Granville was then comparatively popu- lous and thriving, and its business of all kinds was exceedingly flourishing. This was especially so as to its law business. The people did their business of that kind at home, instead of resort- ing to Westfield or Springfield. Mr. Boise was one of the lead- ing counsel of the county, and his practice used to call him to the smaller controversies in the vicinity of his residence, and to attend arbitrations and references in the western part of the county and in southern Berkshire. Upon these occasions, he used to encounter in opposition, Sheldon of New Marlboro, Filley of Otis, Twining of Sandisfield, Mills of Southwick, Cooley of his own town, Knox of Blandford, and occasionally the grave and dignified looking Lathrop of West Springfield. An arbitration or a reference in those days, was an event long to be remembered. Reasonable notice was always given to the country around. The ball-room of the village tavern was cleared out and made ready. Viands were prepared of both kinds, solid and liquid, and always in great abundance; and in the afternoon beforehand, the respective counsel, usually on horse- back, with a pair of saddlebags, stuffed out with a shirt and a bundle of law books, met their expecting clients, and proceeded to prepare for the coming engagement. The supper, bountiful beyond modern imagination, foreshadowed the good things that were to come. Not to speak of the substantials below the dais, for the ordinary guests, and such travelers as chanced to be present, the abundance upon the board where were seated the arbitrators, and the lawyers, indicated either that they had endured a long fast, or that they needed an extraordinary sup- ply for the exhausting encounters of the morrow.
It was in those trials that Mr. Boise was at home. He had great experience in them. Always a pleasant and an easy speaker, and, on these occasions, unrestrained by the technical rules or the formal requirements of a judicial tribunal, he gave a free range to his imagination. He was an impulsive man,
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easily excited, and with a store-house of words and phrases to express the results of his convictions ; and when he was excited by controversial debate, especially if he thought his opponents were unfair in their opposition, or when his sense of justice was aroused by the unworthy conduct of the opposing client, his invective was withering.
There was a high sense of justice in Mr. Boise, that was apparent in his professional conduct, and which gave him a great advantage with juries or arbitrators. They were apt to believe that he was honest; and, if the facts would authorize it, he was very apt to win a verdict or an award. These arbitrations or references usually continued for two or three days ; and when the case came on for argument, a large and appreciative audi- ence was almost always present, to listen to the well-prepared and eloquent arguments of the counsel.
At the expiration of the term of office of Hon. Caleb Rice, as sheriff of the county, Mr. Boise was appointed as his suc- cessor. He was a proper person to officiate as " the companion of the court ;" and he ever discharged the duties of the office with dignity and discretion. He was, during his life, a member of the Legislature,-of the House and Senate,-and also a State councilor. In every situation, no suspicion tainted his pure fame.
In the year 1830, yielding to currents of business, he re- moved to Westfield, where he remained until his decease in 1859. No member of the bar exhibited a more racy wit than Mr. Boise. Scarcely a trial took place in which he was en- gaged, where a bright attack or a brilliant repartee was not uttered. He had an abundance of expressions and phrases, which were always fitted to the subject or to the person, and used to provoke a general merriment.
He was associated with me in the trial of Jesse Hall, on a charge of murder. Hall refused to state the whole facts in the case, and his obstinate reticence subjected him to a verdict of murder, instead of manslaughter. Repairing to the jail, after sentence, he was with difficulty persuaded to state the facts. " I am guilty," was all we could extract from him. After ascer- taining the truth, we prepared a petition for a commutation, which he hesitated to sign. Mr. Boise was provoked, and said, " Do you want to be hung ?" This staggered him, and at last
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he said, " Squire Boise, what sort of a place is the State prison to live in ?" The reply was, "A great deal better than any place you ever lived in, in Tolland !"
In speaking of the address of a fluent speaker to the jury, he said, "My learned brother has got a vivid imagination, and wind enough to blow it off!"
THE HON. JUSTICE WILLARD,
of Springfield, was admitted to the bar in 1816, and settled in Springfield. He was a member of the Senate, and on the ap- pointment of Oliver B. Morris to be judge of probate, in the place of Judge Hooker, he succeeded Mr. Morris as register. As a lawyer he was a sound one. As a special pleader, he was acute and logical, and he had, perhaps, no rival in his knowl- edge of the science, except Master George Bliss. Eloquence was not his forte. His manner was dry and hesitating, and he was too much given to refining and making nice distinctions, to impress his views upon the jury. But he had a great fervor of character; and when he had once examined a subject, he adopt- ed the results of his examination with his whole heart. An example will illustrate. During the examinations, bearing upon the policy of constructing the railroad from Boston to Albany, a public meeting was held at Springfield, at which sundry reports were made of the prospective amounts of business, the rate of speed, and number of passengers, which reports, if now exhibited, would provoke a smile at the general incredulity. After a number of persons had spoken, Mr. Willard arose, with his accustomed ardor. Warming with his subject, he concluded as follows : " Mr. President, I am told that I am apt to be too sanguine. But, sir, when I consider the improvements of the age, the new discoveries that must hereafter be made in that wonderful machine, the steam engine, and the new applications of the power of steam, I believe, and I am ready to declare,- and I do declare, here, before this audience,-and some of you may make a note of it,-that during the lifetime of some per- sons standing here, a train of cars will run from Springfield to Boston, between sun and sun !" And then pausing, and draw- ing himself up, and shaking his finger with oracular solemnity, he continued : " Yes, sir, I repeat, between sun and sun ! and back again in the same day! ! " The prophesy was received
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with a deafening shout, and the enthusiast sat down amid the jeers of the audience. The Hon. John Howard, a strong friend of the road, who sat next to me, exclaimed, " There ! Willard is so sanguine, that he always throws an air of burlesque over the most solemn subject !"
But the scene, where the peculiarities of Mr. Willard shone forth with the most resplendence, was when wit, and humor and song contributed their fascinations to the gladdened heart, in the social circle of his friends at their friendly convivialities, or at his own hospitable board. Upon such occasions, the inten- sity of his temperament always carried him a flight beyond the conceptions of his most vivacious companions, and excited in them a constantly recurring wonder at his grotesque imagin- ings. It was not an assumed jocularity, or an extravagant explo- sion, made for the purpose of astonishing his friends by his amusing wildness ; but it was the genuine emotion of his heart, true and natural, and giving more joy to them, because they knew that it was the undoubting sincerity of his transient extravagance.
HON. CALEB RICE,
a graduate of Williams College, was a student in the office of William Blair, and was admitted to the bar in 1819. He settled in West Springfield, and resided in the next house to the Hon. Mr. Lathrop. The law business of this town also, like that of the other large and flourishing towns in the county, had sought the absorbing center, and he felt constrained to remove to Springfield. When established there, the next step was to quit the quiet walks of the profession, and to enter into the more enticing business of political and commercial life. Before his removal, he had succeeded Hon. John Phelps of Granville as sheriff of the county, and had also represented his town and county in the House and Senate ; and when he became a resi- dent of the city of Springfield, the people naturally sought a gentleman of his energy and talent to fill the office of mayor. For many years he filled these offices to the universal approba- tion of the people, and when he retired from them he engaged in other pursuits.
Mr. Rice never aspired to the business of an advocate. But he was a good lawyer, prudent, careful, and sagacious. Few
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lawyers exceeded him in the skill of preparing a case, and pre- senting its points to the leading counsel. In all the relations of life, he enjoyed the respect and confidence of the community, and died at the ripe old age of 81, in the year 1873.
CHARLES F. BATES,
of Granville, was graduated at Williams College in 1812, studied law with his brother, Elijah Bates of Westfield, was admitted in 1815, and settled in Southampton. It was a hopeless place for the business of a lawyer, and I believe he selected it as being the only town in the vicinity that was not represented by its village counselor. A few years were sufficient to discourage him, and he returned to his paternal acres and devoted himself to agriculture. His parents were dead, all the members of a large family had emigrated, and his old neighbors were all gone. His children had settled in Ohio, and sighing over the desolation that had sent away the population of a once beautiful but now deserted village, he removed from the place of his birth, the bright scenes of his youth and the home of his manhood, to a distant land, to die among his kindred.
ASA OLMSTEAD
was from Brimfield, and was admitted in 1819, from the office of George Bliss. He did not long continue in practice, but removed to Clinton, N. Y., where he died in the spring of 1874. He married the daughter of Dr. Bond of Enfield, Ct. The latter years of his life were devoted to the care of his estate ; and it is said that he spoiled a good lawyer, in making an ordi- nary farmer, though a successful manager.
ELI B. HAMILTON
was also a native of Blandford, and a pupil of General Knox. He was admitted to the bar in 1815, and settled at Westfield. He was a man of strong common sense, and more than usual talent. Nothing was wanting to his success but continued and faithful application. But this was a quality which he had not, and, in the constitution of his nature, he could never have ; the very intensity of his temperament forbade it. He felt " another law" in his members, warring against the law of "his mind," and bearing him away from his books and the love of his books,
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to those scenes, employments and exercises, for the enjoyment of which he was especially fashioned. In size and figure he was the embodiment of strength and manly grace. He was over six feet in height, erect and well proportioned ; and, with no marks of obesity, his weight was two hundred and sixty-four pounds ! In my conception, he realized the description of Richard Cœur de Lion, as portrayed by Sir Walter Scott in " The Talisman," and in "Ivanhoe." The mention of these romances recalls an incident that illustrates that fidelity and naturalness of description, that pervades the delineations of that wonderful author. I had just loaned " The Talisman " to Mr. Hamilton, who was a great admirer of the Waverley novels,- the only books, almost, that could keep him in his office ; and, having occasion to pass by it, I saw him standing, stripped to the waist, his body thrown back as if to spring, and his right hand grasping a chair, extended, as in the act to inflict a crush- ing blow. "What in the world," said I, as I entered, "are you doing ?" "I am trying to look like Richard ! but I cannot start out the muscles from my brawny arm, like the cordage of the ivy round the limb of the oak! I am too fat !"
Mr. Hamilton was an ardent lover of natural scenery. He loved to wander over the country, and particularly into its wild- est scenes. With his dog and gun, or with his fishing-tackle, he used to roam over the mountains, and through the valleys, fording brooks and rivers, and never changing his wet clothing when he returned, because, as he said, it exposed him to a cold ! He was born with a constitution for the years of Methuselah, and with a strength and activity that I never saw equaled ; but exposure and irregularity told their tale, and the strong man yielded himself, in the very pride of his years.
HON. JAMES COOLEY
was a native of East Granville, a graduate of Williams college, and a brother of Rev. Dr. Timothy M. Cooley. He settled in the practice of the law in his native town, and was a useful citi- zen, and a good practical lawyer. He represented the county as one of the members of the Senate, and was always respected, in all the situations of life, for his probity and honor. He was admitted to the bar in 1814, and was a student in the office of John Phelps in West Granville.
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HON. GEORGE BLISS, JR.,
was admitted to the bar in 1816, after his clerkship in the office of his father. He at first settled in Monson ; but, soon after, removed to Springfield, and formed a co-partnership with his father-in-law, Jonathan Dwight, Jr. The firm was Dwight & Bliss ; but Mr. Dwight was never seen by me in court, and I suppose that the business of the firm was carried on by Mr. Bliss alone. He was a graduate of Yale College, of the class of 1812, and was a good scholar and well educated for his pro- fession. His knowledge seemed to be at his fingers' ends; and in a case of emergency, it was always at his command. No lawyer at the bar was more careful in his preparation, or thor- ough in his examination of the law. Of course, he was more than ordinarily successful. At the organization of the Western railroad, he embarked in the enterprise, and finally gave his whole time and attention to it ; and, after resigning an office which he had filled for many years, he yielded to a request of those who had appreciated his services, to take a similar charge of a road at the West. He finally gave up all those employ- ments and retired to his own fireside ; and, in 1873, he died at his home, leaving an untarnished reputation to his children. He was, at different times, a speaker of the House, and a presi- dent of the Senate; and it was while in the former office that he received that brutal insult, that no falsehood could explain away.
AUGUSTUS COLLINS
was born and educated in Connecticut, was admitted to the bar, practiced for a time in Berkshire, and finally settled in West- field. He was a most diligent and studious office lawyer, always at his post, with pen in hand, ready for a deed, writ or con- tract. He was a constant reader of the reports and the statutes, and was the principal magistrate before whom civil and crimi- nal cases were tried in his town. He was accustomed to elab- orate the preparation of his cases to a fearful extent, and the leading counsel had an exhausting labor in reading, comparing and analyzing the numerous cases that his industry had col- lected. He died at his home, in Westfield, leaving an estima- ble reputation as an impartial, intelligent magistrate, and a use- ful citizen. I cannot ascertain the dates either of his birth or
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his death. Even his tomb-stone is strangely barren in this re- spect. It merely announces his name, and age as 62, with a scriptural quotation of no particularly antiquarian valuc.
SOLOMON LATHROP.
He was admitted in 1816, and settled in West Springfield. For a short time after my connection with the bar, I used to see him at court, but his business was not extensive, nor did I ever see him engaged in judicial trials. My impression is, that he left the State for the West.
SAMUEL JOHNSON.
I find his name entered on Mr. Bliss' list of members of the bar of the county of Hampshire, but I do not find the date of his admission. He was in practice several years after my acquaint- ance with the bar, in the town of Huntington, then Chester vil- lage. His business was by no means extensive or profitable, although he is said to have possessed talent sufficient to have made it so. He was a singular man in his dress, and in all his tastes. His hair was long and uncropped, with a profusion of unguents permeating the mass, the whole brush apparently inno- cent of a comb ; every hair standing, lying and curling inde- pendently, and as if at war with every other hair of his head ; his capacious pantaloons, constructed, probably, according to his own directions, certainly not by the conception of any pos- sible tailor ; his large frock coat, with its long flowing skirts, extending itself beyond the dimensions of an overcoat ; an immense loosely rolled bundle of white muslin encircling his neck ; a narrow outbreak of cotton cloth below the short vest and above the nether garment, betokening a shirt; and, to crown the whole, an immense, old-fashioned, yellow seal-skin, bell-crowned hat on the top of his head, completed the picture of an object, that would have made the fortune of any collector of rare curiosities, or called together a crowd at the museum of Showman Barnum.
The appearance and manners of this extraordinary specimen were as peculiar as was his dress. He was a large, good look- ing man, of over six feet in height, and more than two hundred pounds avoirdupois, erect in his form and dignified in his car- riage, stately and formal in his address, deep-toned and deliber-
9
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ate in his utterances, impressing a beholder with the belief, that he possessed all the wisdom that he pretended to have, and per- haps something more. Having little professional business to attend to, and with time enough upon his hands, he devoted himself to the pursuit of historical studies and the perusal of such literature as the town libraries afforded him, and his mind was well stored with a chaos of learning. He balanced, with even more than Johnsonian accuracy, the ponderous sentences, which were modeled upon the style of Rasselas, and swelled their mellifluous sweetness by an admixture of the smooth and somewhat indefinite phrases, which add so much to the har- mony of Counselor Phillips' speeches. He was a standing Fourth of July and Eighth of January orator ; and he yielded himself readily to the wishes of even a small number of his neighbors, who wished to listen to his lucubrations. Some of his orations were published at the time of their delivery, and if they are still extant, they would be objects of careful preser- vation.
On one occasion, he argued a case before the court at the law term ; and it was said that the court was divided on the question, which was the most remarkable, the lawyer or his argument. With all this oddity, Mr. Johnson was an excellent and a useful man. At a period of his life, far too late for his own good, he married a most estimable woman and removed to the West, and there, it is said, he established the reputation of an able and useful lawyer.
WILLIAM KNIGHT
was admitted as counselor in 1820. He was settled in Wilbra- ham, and was, to a considerable extent, engaged in the practice of the law, though he was employed more particularly as an office lawyer, administrator, executor and guardian, etc. He took little or no part in litigated business, but used to come, occasionally, to court, for the purpose of attending to his col- lecting business. I was but little acquainted with him ; but he seemed to be an estimable man, of great simplicity of charac- ter, and was much esteemed by his fellow-citizens, as a prudent, careful and honest lawyer. He removed, several years since, to the State of Ohio.
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ALFRED STEARNS.
He was a native of Hardwick. For a few years he was an usher, and then the preceptor of the Westfield academy. Hc was a man of some literary attainments, but with no striking legal qualifications. He was a student, and, for a few years, he was the law partner of Elijah Bates in Westfield. But the arrangement was not a lasting one. His success in carrying on business on his own account was not prosperous, and he finally removed to. the State of Illinois, where he died. He was admitted in 1820.
JOHN HOOKER, JR.
He was the son of Hon. John Hooker, the first judge of pro- bate of the county, studied law, and was admitted in 1813. I never heard of his having an office, or practicing at the bar, except in his own cases, and then he was accustomed to call in associate counsel. He was engaged, while I knew him, in busi- ness foreign to the employments or the desires of the profession.
JOSIAH HOOKER
was a younger brother of John. He was admitted in 1829, and attended, to some considerable extent, to professional busi- ness. He was an excellent lawyer, and a learned and useful man. As an arbitrator, a referee, or an auditor, he was one of the most capable members of the profession. Always fair and impartial, not only with the ability to discern the right, but with the courage and honesty to do it, he was frequently called upon to act in those capacities; and, though it is said that the dis- charge of those duties always is unsatisfactory to one of the parties, yet no one ever arraigned his uprightness of intention, his rigid impartiality, and generally not even the wisdom of his decisions.
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