USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. I > Part 42
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. I > Part 42
USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > History of Plymouth, Norfolk and Barnstable counties, Massachusetts, Vol. I > Part 42
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At the battle of Malvern Hill, July 1, 1862, Mr. Osborne was struck in the chest by a musket ball and was carried off the field insensible and left as dead. He was, however, restored to consciousness, and, un- observed, seized the gun of a dead comrade and, in the darkness, found his way to the front. Again he was wounded severely, this time in the left leg by a fragment of shell. He became one of some five hundred wounded soldiers who were taken prisoners, carried to Richmond and exchanged July 18, 1862. He was under treatment at St. Luke's Hos- pital, New York, until January, 1863, when he was discharged as unfit for service.
Returning home, Mr. Osborne again taught school and entered the office of Benjamin W. Harris to read law. He was admitted to the bar in 1864. He served in the Massachusetts Legislature and held numerous official positions.
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Hon. John F. Andrew was a worthy son of Hon. John A. Andrew, governor of Massachusetts during the Civil War, a graduate of Harvard University, and admitted to the bar in 1875. He served in both houses of the Massachusetts Legislature, was delegate to the National Repub- lican Convention at Chicago in 1884.
Joseph Sampson Beal, a prominent attorney of the county, resided in Kingston, his native town. He was graduated from Harvard Univer- sity in 1835, and was admitted to practice in 1838. He served in both branches of the Massachusetts Legislature, was Register of Probate for the county, served as a member of the Kingston school committee, was auditor of accounts for the Old Colony Railroad Company, and held other offices with credit.
Bradford Kingman, well remembered as author of the "History of North Bridgewater" and the "History of Brookline" among other pub- lications, was also a lawyer, admitted to the bar April 21, 1863. He was a native of Brockton. He served several years as trial justice for the trial of criminal cases in Norfolk County. He became a resident of Brookline May 1, 1856. He was editor and proprietor of the "Brookline Transcript" some over two years, and was a contributor to newspapers and magazines many years. He was a member of numerous historical and genealogical societies.
Ellis Wesley Morton, a native of North Bridgewater (now Brockton), was born October 8, 1848, educated at the Adelphian Academy in North Bridgewater, Classical High School, Providence, Rhode Island; and Cambridge Law School, and admitted to the bar October 8, 1861. He served as assistant United States attorney for Massachusetts, as a mem- ber of the United States Circuit Court for Massachusetts, and was admitted to the bar of the United States Supreme Court at Washington, District of Columbia, in March, 1864.
Eliab Whitman, born in East Bridgewater, May 30, 1788, was grad- uated from Brown University, studied law in the office of Hon. Nahum Mitchell, and practiced law in Lisbon, Maine, two years after being admitted to the bar. In 1813 he settled in North Bridgewater and was the only attorney in the town for several years. He served the district in the Massachusetts Legislature in 1840 and 1841.
Jonathan White was born in East Randolph, August 22, 1819, fitted for college at Phillips' Academy, Andover, was graduated from Yale College in 1844, and opened a law office in North Bridgewater (now Brockton) in 1849. He was a member of the House of Representatives and later the Massachusetts Senate, much interested in the Old Colony Congregational Club of which he was president, and especially interested as trustee of the Brockton Public Library.
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Courthouses and Jails at Plymouth-In the early days, it was rarely that even the judges had had the advantages of a legal education. By 1701 attorneys were recognized as officers of the court, and were re- quired to take an oath before practicing. Apparently no study or exam- ination was required and the ordinary man had as good a chance before the court, pleading his own cause, as depending upon an advocate. This condition whetted the Yankee shrewdness and it has been said, as late as 1746, that the people were especially "addicted to quirks of the law .. . so that a very ordinary countryman in New England is almost qualified for a country attorney in England."
When the Plymouth County courts were provided for there was, according to the English custom, a Government House, which stood on Town Square in Plymouth, at the foot of Burial Hill, and on the first street in the Plymouth Colony. It was surrounded by a generous tract of land and the County Prison occupied a part of the land. These two institutions provided accommodations for the new court and those who received the courtly administrations, by order of the General Court, until Plymouth County purchased, in 1773, the land now occupied by the Court House, in Court Square. In the rear was erected the county jail or house of correction, and this or a later building were used until a comparatively few years ago when, during the term of office of High Sheriff Henry S. Porter, the present larger house of correction was erected at Obery Heights, two miles farther south in the town in Plym- outh. The first jail was built in 1778.
Additional land was bought of the town of Plymouth by the county in 1819 and a stone jail was erected, at a cost of $11,500. A keeper's house was built at the same time at a cost of $2,000. The following year the county built the present courthouse, after removing the former jail and keeper's residence. The cost of the courthouse was $12,000. It was enlarged in 1857 at a cost of $24,000. A new House of Correction had been built in 1852.
After the courthouse was erected in 1821, the town of Plymouth purchased the former courthouse on Town Square for a Town House. The House of Correction was enlarged and remodelled at a cost of approximately $30,000.
There was considerable agitation in 1819, before building the court- house, in favor of moving the shire of the county to some town nearer the centre of Plymouth County population. Claims were presented by several towns, setting forth their individual advantages. The town occupying the geographical centre was then, as now, Halifax. Although one of the smallest towns, as regards population, its central location was especially desirable from the standpoint of travel, as most trans- portation in those days was necessarily behind a horse, over sandy or
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muddy highways, according to the season. How Halifax itself voted on the question, earlier historians neglected to set down, but the vote in Carver, nearest town to Plymouth, was one in favor of Halifax and one hundred and forty-seven against. Marshfield, Hanson and some other towns put up rival arguments and it was finally left to vote of the towns. Every town voted for itself and Plymouth, being the town with the largest voting strength, saved for itself the honor and ad- vantages of remaining the shire town.
The Plymouth County Agricultural Society was organized in the old Plymouth courthouse. The society was first projected at a meeting held there in 1818. A large number of men interested taxed themselves $10 each to get the society started. Later life memberships were sold for $5 each. The society was incorporated in 1819 and is still in existence, holding its annual fair in Bridgewater, where for many years it had the largest and most pretentious agricultural fair grounds and equip- ment in this part of the country.
Among the objects of interest transferred to the new courthouse was the original charter of the Old Colony, framed and hung in the county clerk's office. It measures twenty by twenty-six inches and has the remnants of a seal of brown wax, which measured four and one-half inches across. The seal has for many years been in fragments but it is easy to trace its original outlines.
Of the original records "Russell's Recollections" stated :
The records are now arranged chronologically, and in such a manner that the legislative proceedings or court orders form six separate volumes, the wills and inventories four, deeds six, laws one, acts of commissioners of United Colonies two. There is also an imperfect volume of the records of these commissioners, being as is supposed, their original minutes. There is also one volume of Indian deeds, bound with the treasurers' accounts and lists of freemen; one volume of actions, marriages, births and deaths; making in the whole twenty-two volumes of original deeds.
Copies made from the above were deposited in the office of the secretary of state, and form eleven folio volumes, and are indexed like the originals. All the laws and legislative proceedings are copied, with such parts of the other records as were thought to be useful. The parts not copied are most of the private deeds, wills and inventories.
Recent Constitutional Conventions-The Constitutional Conventions in 1917, 1918 and 1919 considered the entire redrafting of the Constitu- tion of 1780 and its amendments. The present constitution runs through all court decisions since 1780. It is the oldest constitution in the Uni- ted States, has a prestige which no other constitution has and is the source of suggestion for all the other States.
The total membership of the Constitutional Convention of 1917 consisted of three hundred and twenty persons. There were sixteen
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delegates from the state-at-large, sixty-four from the Congressional Dis- tricts, four from each; and two hundred and forty from the legislative representative districts. Each representative district had the same num- ber of delegates as representatives in the Legislature. The Plymouth County members were Walter L. Bouve, of Hingham, chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs; E. Gerry Brown, of Brockton, a mem- ber of the Committee on Labor; Dr. Ezra W. Clark, of Brockton, mem- ber of the Committee on Liquor Traffic; A. Webster Butler, of Brock- ton, member of the Committee on Public Affairs; Elmer L. Curtiss, of Hingham, chairman of the Massachusetts Civil Service Commission ; Robert T. Delano, of Wareham, member of Committee on County and District Government; Clarence W. Harding, of Whitman, member of Committee on Liquor Traffic; Judge George W. Kelley, of Rockland, member of Committee on Social Welfare; Edward A. MacMaster, of Bridgewater, member of Committee on Judicial Procedure; Patrick Peterson, of Brockton, member of Committee on Elections; Walter F. Russell, of Brockton, who died from illness which prevented him from attending the convention; Ernest H. Sparrell, of Norwell, member of the Committee on Social Welfare; Harry R. Talbot, of Plymouth, clerk of Committee on Labor; Albert H. Washburn, of Middleboro, member of Committee on Amendment and Codification of the Constitution.
Just how much the convention accomplished is a matter of opinion but the representatives from Plymouth County gave to the work con- scientious attention and devoted attendance. It is a matter of record that many times business had to be suspended for lack of a quorum, and other business was done with a narrow margin above a quorum. As a matter of fact there was an order, offered by Arthur B. Curtis, of Revere, a member of the Committee on Contingent Expenses and Pay Roll, providing for a waiver of salaries for conscience' sake on the part of absentees who had not performed adequate services to make pay- ment equitable. Coming up on the question of adoption, August 13, 1918, Mr. Curtis said it was "only an appeal to honor and conscience, but it gives an opportunity for such delegates as have for various reasons not been present at very many of these sessions, if they so desire, to turn over their compensation, their salary, either to the treasurer for general purposes or for the purpose of the Red Cross. * * * I have no special interest in what they may turn it to, but I thought the Red Cross, 'the greatest mother in the world,' whose munificent hand stretches all over the world, might appeal to some of those men. I thought too, it might be, Mr. President, that some of those men remem- bered the admonition of old, 'Labor to keep alive that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.' * It is all a matter, Mr. President,
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of the conscience and of the honor and the financial condition of each delegate." After being amended to mention the Young Men's Christian Association, the Knights of Columbus, the Salvation Army and the Jewish War Relief, the order was adopted.
Of the three hundred and twenty delegates, only three returned any- thing, although there is no record that there was any opposition when the order came up for adoption. Two of the three were soldiers, absent in the World War, Charles P. Curtis, Jr., of Boston, absent in 1917, and Charles P. Howard, of Reading, absent in 1918. Each of them returned $500. The third to act in response to the order was a Plymouth County delegate, Judge George W. Kelley, of Rockland. His record of attendance was one of the best in the entire list. On account of ab- sences in 1917 he returned $42.15; and on account of absences in 1918 $27.76, a total of $69.91. Presumably he reckoned the amounts propor- tionate to absences from roll call. There were thirty-five roll calls on questions and twelve roll calls on quorums, a total of forty-seven. Judge Kelley answered to all but one each, a record surpassed by only twelve in the entire convention and equalled by only seven others. Some were present at one, others only two and so the record went.
Remembering that the total number of roll calls was forty-seven, the Plymouth County delegates were absent from the following num- bers: Bouve, of Hingham, nine; Brown, of Brockton, six; Butler, of Brockton, ten; Clark, of Brockton, two; Curtiss, of Hingham, twenty- eight; Delano, of Wareham, eight; Harding, of Whitman, three; Kelley, of Rockland, two; MacMaster, of Bridgewater, twelve; Peterson, of Brockton, three; Talbot, of Plymouth, six; Sparrell, of Norwell, twenty- five; Washburn, of Middleboro, five. It will thus be seen that the Plymouth County members were conspicuous in their faithfulness to the duties in hand, compared with the delegations as a whole.
Raymond L. Bridgman, author of "Ten Years of Massachusetts" and other valuable books, for many years legislative reporter for numer- ous newspapers, among them the "Brockton Enterprise," wrote a book entitled "The Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1917," in which was contained valuable history outside of official record. He was present at the convention every hour of its sittings in 1917, 1918 and 1919, and had personal knowledge obtained from close touch with controlling persons and events before, during and after the convention, so that some quotations from his book are the most enlightening of anything which can be given of the convention. A few, taken at ran- dom, concerning members of the Plymouth County delegation follow:
"A considerable group of members could be selected who came to the convention without a state reputation, of whom Mr. Wasburn, of Middleboro, is a type, who shone steadily and brightly, if not brilliantly,
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with their light of mental clarity and moral principle. More of them would have improved the convention."
"Mr. Washburn, of Middleboro, held that a percentage of voters was a better standard for signatures to an initiative petition than a fixed number and moved to make it four per cent of the total vote for gov- ernor at the preceding election, instead of the 20,000 names as it stood. Washburn quoted Theodore Roosevelt on his side, and Mr. Walker, of Brookline, retorted that this draft had been approved by Roosevelt. The roll call on the Washburn motion ended with 112 yeas and 112 nays. Then President Bates had his name called. He voted 'yes' and thus the official record was 113 yeas and 112 nays."
"Next in order on the November ballot was the amendment to change the method of selection of officers of the militia. The success of this proposition was due, in decisive degree, to the strength of the case made out by Mr. Bouve, of Hingham. His report from the Committee on Military Affairs, July 16, 1917, was unanimous, on its face. After- ward, Mr. Newhall, of Stoneham, was recorded as a dissenter. It was July 12, 1918, when the matter was reached for debate. Mr. Newhall moved to strike out the words:
'and all such officers entitled by law to receive commissions shall be commissioned by the governor, but no officer shall be appointed unless he shall have passed an examination prepared by a competent commis- sion or shall have served one year in either the Federal or State militia or military service.'
"It was a long and hot debate which followed. Mr. Bouve, loaded with a battery-charge of documents and with his head and heart full of facts, figures and patriotic enthusiasm for his cause, went from his seat in the rear of the second division down to the front and poured out his argument to the edification of the listeners. Concerning this speech, the 'Boston Herald' report said :
" 'No speaker before the convention, not excepting the military men who have addressed it as guests of honor, have shown such knowledge of the Massachusetts militia, past and present.' "
"So important did he make to appear his contention against the old method of popular election as destructive to military efficiency, that the convention granted an extension of time for his argument, continuing it to the next session. Friends of popular (by soldiers) election threw their strength against him. But they could not persuade the convention after the clear and forceful demonstration which had been given. The pending amendment of Mr. Newhall had thirty-four yeas to eighty- five nays, and then the amendment as a whole was ordered to a third reading by ninety-nine to fifty-two, by rising vote. That settled the
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controversy. It was given its next stage unanimously, without debate and was voted to be submitted, on August 15, to the people.
"Following this amendment came one in the same class, defining the legislative power over the military and naval forces of the Common- wealth and making the governor the commander-in-chief. It was reported by Mr. Walker, of New Bedford, under the same rule as the previous amendment. Mr. Bouve was its principal champion, and his prestige carried it through to an easy victory, in spite of slight opposition."
"Mr. Clark, of Brockton, spoke at length to establish the point that the law of supply and demand is not operative under modern condi- tions. * * * Debate on the following day was continued by Mr. Brown, of Brockton, in a speech of nearly an hour, arguing that the Legislature could be trusted and that the State ought to regulate business in the necessities of life.
"One of the signs of the times regarding the changes in the theory of ownership of property is the large majority in the convention for the amendment which came to be called 'the natural-resources amendment.' Contrary to the plural authorship of many of the propositions submitted to the convention as embodiment of modern ideas and progress, this had but a single origin. E. Gerry Brown, of Brockton, introduced the matter under the head of 'Resolution Defining Private Property Title to Natural Resources.' It came out from the Committee on Public Affairs with the title. 'Resolution Relative to the Public Interest in Natural Resources.' The form introduced by Mr. Brown was this :
" 'The properties of water, coal, iron and oil in their original states are among the essential rights of the collective body of people as a common heritage; and therefore cannot be held by any title as private property except as a trust to be exercised and administered equitably with a recognition of a common ownership.'
"The form reported by the committee was this, Mr. Anderson of Brookline being in charge of the report:
" 'The conservation, development and use of agricultural, mineral, forest and water resources of the Commonwealth are matters of public interest. The General Court may therefore authorize the taking, by purchase or otherwise, of such lands or easements or interests therein, including water and mineral rights, and may enact such legislation as may be necessary or expedient for securing and promoting the proper conservation, development and use thereof.'
"Hearings on this subject were assigned for July 2, 3 and 9, and this solitary document, No. 231, was in the list with a large number bearing on the necessities of life. Yet, so absorbed were the people by the war and private affairs that the 'Boston Transcript's' introduction to the story of the hearings of the day says :
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"'Few persons representing the general public took occasion today to visit the State House to attend the various committee meetings of the constitutional convention.'
"And for this particular committee, which was to hear such vital subjects as the public control of the necessities of life and the private ownership of natural resources, the same record says :
"'Hardly more than ten persons were present at the continued hearing before the Committee on Public Affairs on the public production, sale and distribution of the necessities of life.'
"This vital question of the private control of natural resources had no attention whatever, not being mentioned in the report of the hearing. The report of the committee, in the form quoted above, was unanimous. It was made July 17, 1917. (The report went through its various stages.)
"On August 7, the resolution came up for its next stage. Mr. Warren in the 'Boston Herald' the next morning, sketched the main incident of the debate so artistically that it is well worth quoting:
" 'Few sessions have seen in two successive speeches a contrast more striking than that between Mr. Luce's organ-toned plea for the natural resources resolution and Mr. Choate's quiet analysis of its dangers. Mr. Luce's stand was not expected by all the friends of the measure ; still less by its opponents. Perhaps for that reason it counted the more. He spoke with all the dignity, foreboding and prophetic fire that must have marked Jonah's effective preaching in the streets of Ninevah. I mean to ask Mr. Luce some day if Jonathan Edwards was in any of his ancestral lines.'
"On referring the resolution to the people, as it finally stood, there was a roll call of one hundred and thirty-six yeas and eighty-six nays."
"One of the positions stoutly held by the labor men was that labor is a personal right, not a property right. * * * Mr. Brown, of Brock- ton, followed for the labor men and moved this substitute:
" 'The labor of a human being shall not be deemed to be a commodity or article of commerce, and the Legislature shall not pass a law nor the courts construe any law of the Commonwealth contrary to this declaration.'
"Mr. Brown's substitute was rejected without count and then the voice vote, sustaining the committee, was so strong that no one asked for a count."
"Mr. Richardson, of Newton, offered the resolution upon which this amendment was based. (Advertising in public places.) It was referred to the Committee on Social Welfare and their report was that it ought to be rejected. Mr. Kelley, of Rockland, the member of the convention who earned distinction by returning a portion of his salary because
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he was not present all the time, though his record of attendance was exceptionally good, moved a substitute in behalf of a minority of the committee, much more concise than the original form. But he with- drew it later, to make way for a preferable form proposed by Mr. Dutch of Winchester."
"Of the three hundred and twenty elected members of the convention, Walter F. Russell, of Brockton, died just before the first session."
The Civil Service incident of the convention was occasioned by Elmer L. Curtiss, of Hingham, chairman of the Massachusetts Civil Service Commission, introducing the resolution
"providing that appointments and promotions in the civil service shall be made because of merit and fitness ascertained through open competition."
"Debate, led by Mr. Curtiss turned largely upon giving liberal op- portunity to returning soldiers to secure public employment. There was shown also, some of the chronic contempt and opposition for the merit system which is always more or less evident in the Legislature and among candidates for office. Various amendments were advanced, but only to be defeated. It seemed to be popular to attack the merit system. The Curtiss resolution had thirty-six yeas to ninety-eight nays."
Much time and oratory in the Constitutional Convention was given to consideration of the principle of the initiative and referendum. There were many who heroically and persistently championed the cause of full democracy in place of representative democracy, which had been the legacy and practice handed down by the fathers as the general Massa- chusetts practice. The initiative and referendum provides facilities for originating or validating statutes and there were petitioners galore who argued along the same line as Grenville S. MacFarland, editorial writer for the "Boston American," when he said in a personal letter to each candidate for the Legislature in representative districts :
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