USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > Barnstable > Report of proceedings of the tercentenary anniversary of the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts > Part 11
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Not that he was fully aware of it, but here lay the oppor- tunity of Shaw.
To paraphrase the description of his work given by our neighbor, Professor Beale (Great American Lawyers: Lem- uel Shaw, by Professor Joseph Henry Beale, Jr.), his great work was the adaptation of law to the changes that took place in his time, such as the coming of railroads, public service corporations and industrial combinations. Here his perception and reasoning on the adjustment of public utility and personal rights was not, indeed, infallible ; no one's ever can be, but it was amazingly shrewd, logical and far-sighted ; and as such his decisions were largely followed in other courts. Few, if any, judges in a State court, as distinguished from those in the federal courts, have had an influence com- parable with his in the formation of American law; and therefore he stands preeminent among them as the great Chief Justice of Massachusetts.
To say of a judge that he is fearless is like saying the same thing of a military officer. It is merely saying that he is fit for his position. To be above the gusts of popular pas- sion, to be undismayed by criticism of judgments that he knows to be right, is a mark of an upright judge; and this Shaw showed abundantly in the trial of the men who burned the convent in Charlestown, and in the fugitive slave cases. Nor, in the long run, did his action impair the veneration either of the bar or the public for his wisdom or greatness.
Large as was his impression upon the growth of American law, it may be doubted whether Shaw ever regarded him- self as a jurist. Unlike his great contemporary Story he never wrote law books, nor did he turn every opinion into a legal treatise. If a question was novel he discussed it so thoroughly that his decision became a monument; but if it was simply an application of an established principle to particular facts he said so, and let it go at that.
Probably he never appreciated how far-reaching the in- fluence of his opinions would be. He decided each case as it arose, with a view to the law of his own Commonwealth, not, it would seem, thinking much of his own fame. May it not be said of him, as of another law-giver, that he wist not that his face shone ?
Following the address by Dr. Lowell, the chairman pre- sented Henry A. Ellis who spoke concerning other legal lights of the Town of Barnstable.
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"OTHER LEGAL LIGHTS OF BARNSTABLE"-AN ADDRESS BY HENRY A. ELLIS
I am wondering who chose that subject. I did not. Why should a lawyer be spoken of as a legal light. We do not speak of medical lights, or theological lights. But legal lights is a common term among us, and perhaps we might well thus designate some of the members of the Bar. I shall not here attempt to glorify our profession by showing in what manner we have shed our lights in the dark places of our national life, but no one can read the decision of Marshall, Shaw or Story but will feel that they do illumin- ate an obscure and dark situation with a penetrating light, so that lesser minds can plainly see what lies therein.
. Astromers classify the stars in relation to the light that we get from them. In that classification they speak of stars of the first magnitude, stars of the second magnitude and so on. The subject assigned to me is "The Other Legal Lights of Barnstable." The two stars of the first magnitude in the legal firmament of the town Otis and Shaw have been ably portrayed by other stars of the first magnitude. And it is entirely fitting and proper that the lesser lights of our town should in a brief way be brought to your attention by me who have probably known many of the lesser lights.
We may justly claim for the Bar of Barnstable other lights in all the various magnitudes of the astronomers class- ification. I do not intend and it would be impossible to class- ify the other lawyers in our town, but I presume that by a common consent the next two lawyers of state wide promi- nence are Marston and Scudder.
West Barnstable has the credit of producing Shaw and Otis; another little village in the town produced two great lawyers. The little village of Marstons Mills was the birth- place of Nymphas Marston and his son, George Marston. Nymphas Marston was born in 1788, graduated from Har- vard in 1807. He was County Attorney from 1816 to 1829, a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1820, a mem- ber of the Massachusetts Senate 1826, 1827, 1828. In 1829 he became Judge of Probate and held that office until 1854.
Nymphas Marston was succeeded as Judge of Probate by his son, George Marston. George Marston had previous- ly served in the legislature and had been Register of Pro- bate for two years. He resigned as Judge of Probate and moved to New Bedford. He became District Attorney in 1859 and held that office until he was elected Attorney Gen-
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eral of the Commonwealth in 1878 which office he held for four years. He only lived about a year after leaving the Attorney General office. He was on one side of nearly every case of importance in southeastern Massachusetts, and was held to be the leading advocate before a jury in the Com- monwealth :. At the time of his death in 1883 at a memorial service held in the Superior Court at New Bedford, Mr. Justice Pitman said, "A few generations ago there were men of the first rank in all the learned professions scattered all through the small towns of New England, but of late years the process of absorption by our great cities has been going on rapidly and I cannot recall a place as small in popula- tion as Barnstable which held in it a lawyer of Mr. Mars- ton's reputation at the time of his removal." Judge Pitman called attention to the fact that leadership of the Massachu- setts Bar generally in fact and theory went with the office of Attorney General, a fact which has not always held good in recent years.
The other family name prominent in legal circles that originated in our town was the Scudder family. Zeno Scud- der was born in 1807. He sought at first to prepare himself for a mercantile career but an unfortunate accident made him a partial cripple. He then thoroughly prepared himself for the practice of medicine, but then decided that his phy- sical disability would not allow him to practice that pro- fession and he studied law and was admitted to the Bar in 1876. He first began his practice in Falmouth but soon re- turned to Barnstable. In 1846 .we find him President of the Massachusetts Senate and was soon after elected to Con- gress. An early death cut short a promising career in Con- gress.
Henry Scudder whose classic features reproduced in mar- ble have for many years decorated our Superior Court Room was the only lawyer born in this town who has been a member of our Superior Court. Judge Joseph Walsh born in the neighboring town of Falmouth had an office in Hy- annis for a short time before he went to Congress. Judge Scudder at the time of his appointment was a practicing lawyer in Boston. He was particularly noted as an eloquent speaker, and was called on for formal addresses all over the Commonwealth.
I do not intend to make a complete list of all the lawyers that have practiced in Barnstable or that were born in Barnstable and practiced elsewhere. It is sometimes diffi- cult to tell by the records whether some men who held
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offices that require a legal education were lawyers or not. Many of our early judges had no legal education. Many of our Registers of Probate were not lawyers. There has come to my attention recently some of the correspondence of Abner Davis of Barnstable, who was a Register of Pro- bate, and apparently he was at the same time collector of Internal Revenue and Deputy U. S. Marshal, and some- times Clerk of the Superior Court. There appears among his letters a very warm appreciation of his abilities written by Chief Justice Shaw to whom his resignation as Clerk of Court was addressed.
A very successful lawyer and politician of the period im- mediately preceding the Civil War was Benj. Hallett born in this town, a friend of and often associated with Webster in important litigation and a sort of power behind many political thrones.
Probably the first lawyer to practice in Barnstable was Gov. Thomas Hinckley. We cannot ascertain exactly what his legal training was but his work shows that he had a very considerable legal training and a very decided legal ability.
It is not my purpose to dwell here on the lawyers now living and working among us. Perhaps when Barnstable celebrates her 400th anniversary, some of these young men who have recently come to the Bar may have attained a position of a legal light of the first magnitude. Some of us are getting old and it is altogether fitting and proper that I should speak a word about the senior member of the Bar in our town. Charles C. Paine, Town Counsel, sometime member of the Harbor and Land Commission for the Com- monwealth, and a Special Justice of the First District Court, a learned, scholarly lawyer whose knowledge of the law of Municipal Corporation and of Real Property is excelled by none in the Commonwealth, a lawyer whose wide re- search in the field of Colonial History and Law has made him a prominent authority in those fields. He still carries on with a fine appreciation of the glories of our early his- tory and a reverence for those who made that history which includes his ancestor, Robert Treat Paine, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
I might dwell with profit on John Bodfish whose family in Barnstable is almost as old as the Great Marshes. A man who under the greatest handicap stands out as a repre- sentative of that indomitable courage of his ancient line of Cape Codders. He has been commissioner for the Blind of
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the State of Delaware, on the Board governing the wel- fare and industrial work for the blind in Massachusetts. As a member of the Constitutional Convention of the Com- monwealth I believe his carefully prepared arguments be- fore that body could be read with profit by all.
Personal reminiscences of the bar of Barnstable partakes of the nature of ancient history. When I came to the Bar in this county there were four lawyers actively practicing in the town, now there are fifteen; the Bar is growing in num- bers at least. Tom Day and Hal Hutchins were at Barnsta- ble village and Hal Baker and Charlie Paine were in Hyan- nis. Freeman Lothrop, the Register of Probate, and after- wards Judge of Probate did but little active practicing, con- fining his efforts outside of his official duties to the examina- tion of a few titles with the usual fee of $3.00.
In those days at a term of the Superior Court practically all the cases were tried by Day, Baker and Paine with Judge Harriman of Wellfleet hearing often. A very few lawyers from other Counties appeared and when they did one of the four that I have mentioned generally appeared with them.
Judge Joseph Day had died before I began practice but I can recall seeing him in court with his long white beard. Whatever may have been his faults that caused his removal as Judge of Probate Court yet no one ever denied to him great ability and perhaps as time goes on we can see that some of the issues that caused his removal were a result of his political activities. If there was any stigma attached to the name of Day by reason of his removal, his son, Thomas C. Day renewed the respect for the name of Day in legal cir- cles. His portrait hangs in our law library, he was a fine physical specimen, serious, dignified and courteous, always giving the Jury the impression that he was fair to every- body but always a hard fighter for his cause. He was be- ginning to take it easy when I first knew him, a very large fee had placed him in an easy position financially but unfor- tunately he died in the height of his power.
Henry H. Baker of Hyannis was a success as a lawyer from the beginning of his practice. He was the orator of the Barnstable County Bar. A particularly active and successful trial lawyer, he seemed always to know just what to say to a jury. He was assistant District Attorney for a while and when the Canal was being constructed was Attorney for the Canal Company and participated in many important trials arising out of that work. He, like George Marston, always insisted on knowing all the facts in his case. I can
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remember driving a horse to Wellfleet to get the answer to one question from a prospective witness that would appear the next day in court.
Hal Hutchins did not practice long in this County but he always retained his home in Barnstable and came here of- ten. He became assistant Attorney General for the Com- monwealth and referee in bankruptcy in Norfolk County, a fine student of the law but not an active trial man.
I will not dwell long on Judge Frederick C. Swift. You have all within a very few years heard his career reviewed. I will only say this, that after practicing before him twenty- five years I feel that he would have served with distinction on even the highest bench in our Commonwealth.
Appropriate instrumental music was rendered throughout the program by Natalie Pedro, Mildred Syriala, Marion Waller and Marjorie Fisk, violins, and Jeannette Wirtanen, piano.
The exercises were held on the grounds of Miss Elizabeth Jenkins, who is the present owner of the old Shaw home- stead where Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw was born. The weather was fine and the setting ideal and the large num- ber in attendance will long remember the excellent program.
The photograph accompanying this report was taken for the Committee and shows all whose names appear in the program.
The Committee wishes to thank all who so generously helped them in making the occasion a complete success.
JOHN D. W. BODFISH Chairman
THOMAS OTIS COLLEN C. CAMPBELL
PART IV Guests From Barnstaple England
The Borough of Barnstaple, in the County of Devon, Eng- land, honored her namesake town by sending as official rep- resentatives to the Tercentenary year ceremonies her Mayor, Mr. Charles F. Dart, and Mayoress, Mrs. Dart. They sailed from Liverpool on the liner Laconia July 21st and arrived in New York Sunday, July 30th. There they were wel- comed by Thomas Otis, chairman of hospitality, for the Tercentenary Committee, and Chairman Chester A. Crocker of the Board of Selectmen.
After passing a week seeing New York and the World's Fair, Mayor Dart and Mrs. Dart proceeded on August 5th to Boston, where they were welcomed by a delegation com- prised of Chairman James F. Mclaughlin and Donald G. Trayser of the Tercentenary Committee, Selectmen James F. Kenney and Chester A. Crocker. During their week in Boston our English guests visited the State House, where Senator Donald W. Nicholson presented the Mayor in the Senate, and Representative William A. Jones in the House of Representatives. In both legislative chambers, then in session, the Mayor by invitation spoke briefly and his re- marks were heartily applauded. The visiting couple were also received in his office by Governor Leverett W. Salton- stall. Throughout the week they were shown about Boston by Messrs. Otis or Crocker.
The Mayor and Mayoress proceeded to their destination, Barnstable, on August 12th. After being welcomed by a large delegation of citizens at the West Barnstable station, they were taken to the Oyster Harbors Club, their home for their fortnight's stay in our town.
During their visit in Barnstable the Mayor and Mayoress participated in all the formal Tercentenary exercises, and were guests at many social functions. Under guidance of
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MAYOR MEETS GOVERNOR-A Tercentenary fair scene, with Mayor Dart shaking hands with Governor Saltonstall, while Thomas Otis of the Tercentenary Committee and Selectman Crocker look on.
Judge Otis and such others as he designated to assist him in his duties, the English couple had a busy fortnight of sight-seeing, visiting various programs at the request of the Tercentenary Committee, bestowing numerous gifts, not only from the Borough of Barnstaple to the Town of Barn- stable, but from organizations, the church and other groups across the Atlantic, to their corresponding social groups in our town. The Tercentenary events in which they partici- pated will be briefly listed first.
Informally the Mayor and Mayoress were welcomed by Barnstable on Monday, August 14th, the second day follow- ing their arrival. By chance a routine special town meeting had been called, and there in the Hyannis town building Mayor Dart and Mrs. Dart were introduced to such citizens as had gathered for their civic duties. That morning, also, the Mayor performed a gracious act he had requested be arranged without public notice-the laying of a wreath at the base of the War Memorial in front of the town build- ing. Only a small group of American Legion men, and a few Committee members were present. The handsome wreath bore a card reading: "A Token of Grateful Remembrance
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GUESTS FROM BARNSTAPLE, ENGLAND
From the Mayor, Aldermen, Councillors and Citizens of Barnstaple, England; August, 1939."
The first public ceremony which the Mayor and Mayoress attended in their official capacity was the reception given in their honor by the Tercentenary Committee. It was held in the auditorium of Barnstable High School, commencing at 8 p.m. Monday, August 21st. About five hundred citizens were in attendance. A transcript of the proceedings fol- lows here.
PROCEEDINGS AT A PUBLIC RECEPTION TO THE MAYOR AND MAYORESS OF BARNSTAPLE, ENGLAND
Chairman James F. Mclaughlin of the Tercentenary Com- mittee escorted Mayor Dart to the platform, accompanied by Selectman Chester A. Crocker as escort to the Mayor- ess, Mrs. Dart. With the guests having taken their respec- tive positions, the ceremonies opened with a musical selec- tion by a quartet composed of Frederic F. Scudder, Hatsel K. Crosby, William Harrison and Carl Perry. Then Mr. Mc- Laughlin spoke a few words of welcome.
MR. McLAUGHLIN-We, the Committee charged with the observance of the Tercentenary year of the Town of Barnstable, on this official opening of our celebration, bid you a hearty welcome. It is with extreme pleasure that I now present Mr. Chester A. Crocker, Chairman of the Hon- orable Board of Selectmen, who will introduce our honored guests from overseas. Mr. Crocker.
MR. CROCKER-Mr. Chairman, members of the Tercen- tenary Committee, fellow citizens and guests. It is a great honor at all times to be a Selectman of the Town of Barn- stable, but especially so at this time. But very few men can serve their town on an occasion like this. Men have lived, and probably there are others who will live, to be one hundred years old, but even those could hardly be ex- pected to serve as selectmen at that age. But fate has de- creed that we three, Mr. Kenney, Mr. Adams and I shall be so honored at the 300th anniversary of the birth of our town. Besides this, still another great honor has been be- stowed upon us. For the first time in all our eventful his- tory we have distinguished guests from the mother country, old England. And it is now that I take great pleasure in extending in behalf of my colleagues, Mr. Kenney and Mr. Adams, and the Inhabitants of the Town of Barnstable, a warm and hearty welcome to our guests. I now introduce
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GIFTS FROM BARNSTAPLE-Center, replica of the Dodderidge Steeple cup in the 15th century borough plate of the mother town; left, silver bowl from the Association of Barumites in London; right, the il- luminated scroll conveying municipal greetings of goodwill.
to you His Worship, the Mayor of Barnstaple, England, Mr. Charles F. Dart, and the Mayoress, Mrs. Dart.
MR. MCLAUGHLIN-Your Worship . . .
MAYOR DART arose, and after acknowledging the ap- plause, spoke as follows :
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen-However strenu- ously I may endeavor to express my thanks to you all for your many kindnesses to my wife and myself, I feel my words must always be inadequate to represent the depth and sincerity of my feelings. I appreciate very highly your hospitality and the hospitality of your fellow citizens and I hasten to assure you that my wife joins me in these ex- pressions. She feels as I do, that from the moment she came among you just a week ago, she has been an adopted daugh-
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ter of Barnstable, Massachusetts, and she already feels a sympathy and interests in all that concerns your public life and the welfare and happiness of your people.
If I may be allowed to say so, I feel that this a crucial moment in my life. I have come to the time when I officially bring you greetings from the peoples of the Old World and especially from the people of Barnstaple, England, to assure you that we wish to be great friends and in some small way to leave with you some tangible expression of our good will and something that we hope may mark for all times our interest in the 300th anniversary of the found- ing of your town. My first pleasing duty is to ask you to accept this Steeple Cup from the people of Barnstaple, Eng- land, as a symbol of solidarity of the friendship which ex- ists between our two towns and indeed between our nations. This steeple cup is an exact replica of a 15th century cup which is amongst our civic silver, and it is one of the pieces of old silver which is greatly prized by Englishmen when- ever they see it. When I was privileged to invite the late United States Ambassador, the Right Honorable Robert Worth Bingham, to accept the freedom of the Borough of Barnstaple, I was granted an audience at the American Em- bassy, London, and at the conclusion of that interview I was taken to a waiting room and was immediately con- fronted by a number of pressmen, who, in spite of the pres- ence of His Excellency, the Ambassador, put the following question to me: "Why are you presenting the freedom of your Borough to the United States Ambassador?" My reply was this: "Firstly, because of the close association of his ancestors with our town, and secondly, to try to cement even more closely the friendship which exists between the great nation he represents and our own country." And so today, whilst I am here accepting on behalf of the people of Barnstaple, England, your kind invitation which you sent through your late Ambassador to take part in this Ter- centenary celebration, I am presenting in exactly the same spirit and if we may be forgiven for regarding this present as one small but rare, I know that you will appreciate that in addition to it representing one of the most treasured pieces of our Borough plate, you will, we hope nonetheless, be able to realize that it is a small token of a very large friendship.
It is now my privilege to ask you to accept an example of Barnstaple craftsmanship and industry and in present- ing these two vases made by the well-known British firm of
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C. H. Brannam, Ltd., a firm which has been making pottery in Barnstaple, England, for a century, and are now famous for the Royal Barum Ware, these two examples of Barn- staple pottery were made from Barnstaple clay and I think you will agree with me when I say that they are very fine examples of the potter's art. The one is intended for your town and the other for your esteemed Chairman, Mr. Ches- ter Crocker, whose name appears on the vase.
The next gift which I am privileged to present to your town is, I am sure, of particular interest to you, and it is an illuminated album containing fifteen photographic scenes of the Penrose and Horwood Almshouses. I say of particu- lar interest, because the building of these almshouses was directly concerned with the late Ambassador, the Right Honorable Robert Worth Bingham. The almshouses were built by one John Penrose in 1566. John Penrose married the daughter of Richard and Ann Beaple, who were direct descendants of the Worth family, ancestors of the late Mr. Robert Worth Bingham, on his mother's side. Now, if this is the correct line and we have good reason to believe it is, then your town, this town on Cape Cod, and its districts, or shall I say villages, are directly linked up with our towns most honored and greatest benefactor. I am perfectly cer- tain that it would give you all a great thrill to visit these almshouses where for over three centuries a home and a joy has been given to hundreds of old people, who in the sunset of their days, thanks to the generosity of the ances- tors of the late Freeman of Barnstaple, they have found happiness and contentment amidst quiet and properly cared for surroundings.
The next gift to your town is a replica of the Silver Bowl which the association of Barumites in London presented to Barnstaple some thirty years ago. These Barnstaple people, whom we call Barumites, now exiled in London, have a strong organization and it is one of the principal functions of the Mayor of our town to visit them annually at their banquet, and it was at this banquet in February last that they unanimously decided that I should be invited to take with me, to you, some tangible proof of their good wishes to the peoples of Barnstable in America. Further, I am happy to bring to you a bound record and history of Barnstaple's ancient Long Bridge and you will see on the illuminated page that this gift is from the Trustees of this 13th century monument, which is regarded as many, as one of the most interesting of the many historical bridges in the Old World.
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