USA > Michigan > Bench and bar of Michigan : a volume of history and biography > Part 26
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Elbridge F. Bacon
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tion of Michigan's greatest teacher. Mr. Bacon became principal of the Petersburg school soon after his graduation, but all his thoughts were of Blackstone. In 1873 he went to Wisconsin, where he remained for a little less than a year engaged in civil engineering. Coming back to Michigan the following year, he located in Huron county, where he began reading law with Richard Winsor, of Port Austin. This gentleman had been a member of the constitutional convention of 1867, and from him Mr. Bacon received his first impressions of constitutional law. He was elected county surveyor of Huron county in 1874, and re-elected two years later. Mr. Bacon was making his way slowly but surely into the profession of law. He spent nearly four years in solving knotty legal problems in jurisprud- ence; especially did he familiarize himself with the large annual tax sale of Huron county-a knowledge that has often stood him well in hand in after years. He is regarded to-day in Detroit and elsewhere as authority on tax titles. He was admitted to the Huron county Bar in 1876, and opened an office in Port Austin. He entered into a partnership with George S. Engle in 1877, which continued one year. The next year his services were retained by Col. Atkinson of Detroit. In 1879 he removed to Sand Beach and commenced practice for himself. He had an extensive clientage all along the coast from that harbor to the "City of the Straits." Ten years later Mr. Bacon found that his extensive business required a more central location, and accordingly removed to Detroit. His practice has steadily grown in all directions, and is constantly becoming more lucrative. To this he has given close and earnest attention, not yielding to the allure- ments of politics or other side issues, believing that a lawyer should stick as closely to his profession as a shoemaker to his last. His calling has become interwoven with the fiber of his life and he is content to rise by means of it alone. In his various experience in the courts Mr. Bacon has met the most distinguished lawyers and jurists of Detroit, who speak of him in eulogistic terms as an able advocate and all-round lawyer. He tries his cases twice and frequently thrice. He studies jurors, takes the measure of witnesses quickly, and is especially skilful in cross-examina- tions. He has a rare self-control, is courteous towards his opponents, keeps his mind upon the subject at issue and is rarely thrown off his guard. He is still a student with remarkable powers of abstraction and concentra- tion. Hle discriminates between important and trifling issues, and retain- ing such facts as he shall need to draw upon when pressed for time, is always ready for assault or defense. He has built up a lucrative business in the Circuit Court and conducted cases in the other courts of the State, as well as in the Federal Courts. For a number of years he has enjoyed a large practice in the Supreme Court of the State and his name appears in connection with cases reported in several volumes of the official reports of that court. Some of these cases are important, both on account of the issues and the large pecuniary interests involved. He stands well among the members of his profession. In 1881 Mr. Bacon was married to Miss
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Clarena W. Bailey, of St. Clair, and has three daughters-fourteen, nine and four years old. He is much in society, and is a member of the West Side Social Club, the Michigan Avenue and Grande Pointe Clubs. He has been for twelve years an active Knight Templar, and accompanied the Commandery to Boston in 1895. Hle is a Congregationalist and belongs to the old First Church on Woodward Avenue. He is progressive, practical and persistent ; interested in manufacturing industries, and a strong advocate of protection and reciprocity. His mind, disciplined by study, has a com- prehensive grasp, and he is able to present his cases to the court or jury in the most favorable light.
JOHN WARD, Detroit. The subject of this biography traces his lineage to William Ward, who settled in Sudbury, Massachusetts, in 1639. Among the distinguished representatives of the family was Artemus Ward, of Revolutionary fame. John was the son of Jonas and Anna Child Ward; was born at Westminster, Massachusetts, in 1821, removed to Vermont in 1826 and lived in the Green Mountain State until 1859. He was pre- pared for college in the Kimball Union Academy and was graduated from Dartmouth with the class of 1847. Hle cherishes as precious the memory of his college years. He was a member of the famous literary societies of Dartmouth and among his treasured souvenirs are manuscript letters received by him from a quartette of America's great men who were then at the zenith of their fame. These letters are responsive to his invitation to the writers on behalf of the literary societies, of which they had been members during their college days. They are reproduced here as samples of the polite correspondence of the times:
MARSHFIELD, Oct. 3, '46.
Dear sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 25th of September. It would give me pleasure to be able to comply with the wishes of the two societies in whose behalf you write, but for several years past I have found it absolutely necessary to decline all invitations of that kind.
With much respect and the most perfect good wishes, I am your obt. Mr. Ward.
DAN'L, WEBSTER.
NEW YORK, Dec. 25, 1846.
Dear sir: Your favor is duly received. I would be glad of the occa- sion to meet your literary society, but my health has been seriously impaired. I am still an invalid and must therefore decline your kind invitation.
With best wishes, Yours respectfully, Mr. John Ward.
THEO. FRELINGHUYSEN.
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WASHINGTON, June 29, 1847.
Mr. John Ward. Dear sir :
I reproach myself for not sooner replying to your letter of 12th Dec. last inviting me to be the anniversary orator at your coming college com- mencement. I deferred an answer in the hope that it would soon be favorably solved and in the midst of important engagements lost of sight the matter. It is now recalled by a sight of your note and I hasten to make all the atonement in my power for this inexcusable forgetfulness and neglect. I trust it has not prevented the societies' securing the serv- ices of some one more capable than I am of doing honor to them.
With high consideration, your ob't serv't,
AMOS KENDALL.
WASHINGTON, March 9, 1847.
Dear sir: I have received your letter inviting me to deliver a lecture before the societies of your college in the month of August next. I freely accept the invitation, willing to return to my native State for such a pur- pose after the absence of half a century and a life marked with much exertion and vicissitudes. You do not state in your letter upon what date the Commencement will take place. I had thought until the com- mencement of this note that August was the month designated by you. But I find that no period is mentioned and I will therefore thank you to write me a letter addressed to me at Detroit telling me at what time I must be with you.
I am, dear sir, respectfully yours, LEWIS CASS.
Mr. John Ward.
Mr. Ward's motto while at college was " Semper Parata." He was not only prepared in his studies, but was also an officer of the celebrated Dartmouth phalanx, a military company of students. After his gradua- tion he studied law in the office of Collamer & Barrett, of Woodstock, Vermont, and was admitted to the Windsor county Bar in 1849. Hc commenced the practice of law at Springfield in the same county, and paid his way from the start, doing some surveying at intervals. He has always paid his way, and, apropos of the late political campaign, says he has never heard of any of his ancestors who wished to scale his debts or expressed a desire to pay with fifty cent dollars at par value. He remained in practice at Springfield ten years, serving as State's Attorney for Wind- sor county during the last two. In 1859 he came west and settled in Detroit. His first partnership was with J. B. Farnsworth and his second with Irving Palmer. He became associated with E. C. Skinner and C. M. Burton in the abstract business, remaining with them seventeen years. Both of these gentlemen unite in testifying to his valuable services. He was married in 1859 and his wife died in 1864. A son, born of this marriage, died in infancy. Mr. Ward's chief business for a score of years has been in connection with the settlement of estates. He has loaned large sums of money and there never has been a stain upon his reputation or a suspicion against his integrity. He has been scrupulously honest in
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all business transactions. Few men who have passed the seventy-fifth mile stone continue to be at their post of duty as regular as clock work. Hle is methodical in his habits and systematic in the conduct of his busi- ness. He may appropriately be called a gentleman of the old school. In a large and expressive sense, he is a man. Many good things, true and just, might be said of him; but he is modest. One of the very busy men of Detroit says: " John Ward is the best man in the city-the worthiest among the worthy ; to know him best is to love him most." In politics he has always been a stalwart Republican. He has served on the board of education one term and was elected to the board of estimates: but he has no fondness for public office. In his religious views he is a Unitarian. During a long life of usefulness he seems to have merited the addition to his college motto "always ready," of these words-" in the service of his fellow men."
LAWRENCE N. BURKE, Kalamazoo. Mr. Burke is a native of Ire- land, the son of James and Joanna Burke. He was born near Thurles, November 7, 1850. At the age of three he had the misfortune to lose his mother. When five years of age he came to America with other members of the family and lived for some years at East Scott, Cortland county, New York, was educated in the common schools of the neighborhood and in Cortland Academy, at Homer. As a large family was dependent for sup- port upon the father, whose only means consisted of his daily wages, Law- rence was obliged early to depend upon his own exertions, not only for the means of living, but also for the higher education which he desired. At the age of eighteen he was able to teach a district school. In 1869 he came to Kalamazoo and took a course in Parson's Business College. Hav- ing previously formed the purpose to become a lawyer, he entered upon a course of reading and study in the office of the late Hon. J. W. Breese. In 1873 he passed the required examination and was admitted to the Bar. Immediately he entered into practice in partnership with William W. Peck, a relationship that existed about three years. At this time his health became impaired, and he spent several months in the South recu- perating. When sufficiently restored he returned to Kalamazoo and resumed practice alone. In 1877 he was elected a justice of the peace and served as such for more than five years. He was then elected judge of the recorder's court and served four years. In 1890 he was elected prosecut- ing attorney of Kalamazoo county, and served a term of two years .. The character of his practice has been general and extended into all the courts of the State. He has avoided all cases of a questionable or sensational char- acter, and confined himself to such as are consistent with honorable and reputable practice. He has been successful, although his progress has been retarded to a considerable extent by ill health. As a lawyer he has
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established a reputation for ability, candor as a counselor and earnestness as an advocate. He studies the case of his client until he becomes deeply interested, and then labors with zeal and enthusiasm to win it. His manner of argument to influence a jury is such as to gain their confidence. He is so manifestly sincere in his belief and candid in his statements of facts that the jury are impressed favorably with his arguments. Mr. Burke first entered politics as a liberal Republican and supporter of Greeley for Presi- dent in 1872 at the age of twenty-two. From that time to the present he has been what might be termed a progressive Democrat. His personal popularity is duly attested by the various offices to which he has been elected when a majority of his constituents held opposite political views. The qualities prominent in his character are recognized by political oppo- nents as readily as by partisan friends. Ile is liberal-minded, and dis- plays that courtesy which naturally springs from genuine kindness of heart. He has long been an active, influential member of the Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he has won the highest honors that can be bestowed in the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge. At the age of thirty-four he was Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Michigan. In 1885 he was the representative of that body to the Sovereign Grand Lodge in session at Baltimore, and the following year was representative to the same body at Boston. He was married in 1877 to Mary J. Web- ster, of Detroit, with whom he lived happily until her death, in Febru- ary, 1893. He has three children, Lawrence N., Jr., James Webster and Leah Maude, all of them attending school. Mr. Burke has always been devoted to the welfare of his family, and found congenial society at home. It may be said that his social traits are here manifested in the most marked degree, and that his highest form of social enjoyment has ever been found around his own hearthstone.
HENRY J. HORRIGAN, Ionia. The subject of this sketch is one of the youngest men in successful legal practice in the State. He was born in Onondago county, New York, February 13, 1867. Ilis parentage may suggest a possible practical solution of the question of home rule in Ire- land. His mother, Susan Clements, was an English woman, native of Liverpool; his father, Michael Horrigan, of Irish extraction, though born in Oswego county, New York. The family removed to Michigan in 1869 and settled on a farm in Ionia county, remaining there ten years. They were years of toil and care and saving incident to poverty. Every member of the family was expected to contribute something to the common sup- port, and Henry worked on the farm faithfully from the time he was able to render any service, attending the district schools during a part of each year. In 1879 he removed to lonia with the family and entered the pub- lic schools of that city in which he pursued the course of study to comple-
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tion. He was not permitted to attend school continuously. The same necessity for work confronted him as existed on the farm. He met it bravely, taking up whatever afforded remuneration, at the wages offered, and by thus helping himself was enabled to complete the high school course, from which he was graduated in 1888. He was then twenty-one and ambitious in the best sense of that word. He aspired to the highest possible attainments intellectually. Immediately after graduating he entered the law office of Davis & Nichols where he remained until Janu- ary, 1889, and then became associated in the law with William O. Web- ster, a scholarly and successful practitioner, where he has remained to the present. He was admitted to the Bar by Judge Smith at lonia in March, 1890. While prosecuting his studies and assisting his preceptor in the office work, as well as litigation, he has grown in knowledge of the law and public favor. If his "yesterday " is not as long as that of some others he has more of "tomorrow" left for advancement. Today he is recognized as an upright young man of business, with a fixed purpose in life and com- mendable energy to achieve it. He has the confidence of his professional associates, his party friends and his townsmen generally. He was elected "Circuit Court Commissioner in 1892 and again in 1894. Politically he is a Republican and is not without inclination to engage in politics. Indeed his activities have already been employed in promoting the interests and organization of his party by service as secretary of the county committee during several campaigns. He evinces a fraternity spirit by membership in Lucullus Lodge K. of P., in which he has filled some of the chairs. Mr. Horrigan was married in May, 1893, to Miss Blanche, only child of Benjamin and Lutia Vosper, of Ionia.
JAMES MCMILLAN POWERS, Charlotte. Mr. Powers is a son of John R. Powers, a farmer, and Hannah Johnson. Ilis father's ancestors were Irish, and originally settled in Vermont. His mother was of Scotch extraction, and lived in Wyoming county, in the western part of New York. He was born February 17, 1848, in Attica township, Wyoming county. When three years old his father emigrated to Michigan and settled in Assyria township, Barry county, and here our subject passed his boyhood days. He worked on his father's farm, and attended the common school in the winter until twenty years of age. From 1868 to 1876 he taught school during the winters, with the exception of two which he spent in the pineries. He worked at the carpenter trade in the summer, usually attending normal school in the fall. Many influences were drawing him to the law as a great life labor. His brother was studying law at the Univer- sity of Michigan, and he went to Ann Arbor with him to stay until the brother got started in his studies. While there James M. became inter- ested in the law himself, and determined to take a full course at the
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University. He entered the Law Department, October 1, 1876, and was graduated with the class of 1878. He was admitted to the Bar at Char- lotte during the April term of court, 1878. He practised alone for a time at Bellevue, and then removed to Charlotte. He did a general law busi- ness, and practised by himself until March 1, 1894. He then entered into a partnership with one of the prominent attorneys of the central part of the State, under the firm name of Powers & Stein. Since that time he has been engaged principally in criminal cases. In some of these he has won great reputation as a trial lawyer of uncommon ability and fertile resources. In the arson cases of The People vs. Combs, he secured the acquittal of the defendant. In the celebrated conspiracy case of The People vs. Jacobs et al., in which Isadore Jacobs of Albion, and his brother, Jay M. Jacobs of Battle Creek, were on trial, the parties he defended, were acquitted as were also the wives of Rosen and Asher, who were themselves convicted. In the robbery case of The People vs. Wilcox and Thomson, he was able to clear the defendants. The case of The People vs. McCaf- fery on two counts - of poisoning and of assault with attempt to commit murder - was a celebrated one, and by great labor and a wide command of all the resources of the law he succeeded in clearing his clients. These cases were from Calhoun county and won him much favor in that part of the State. He defended Wolcott in the well-poisoning case, and had him adjudged insane, and sent to the Insane Hospital at Ionia. He defended the railroad strikers in the charge brought against them of wrecking a passenger train at Battle Creek in 1894. They were released on their own recognizance, and probably never will be brought to a final trial. Three who were arrested and tried in the Federal Court on the charge of conspir- acy to interfere with the running of the United States mail, were acquitted by the court. In these cases Mr. Powers appeared as counsel for the defendants. He was Democratic candidate for Circuit Judge in 1893, and was defeated by a very few votes. Eaton county has a Republican major- ity of fifteen hundred, but he gave his opponent a very uncomfortable scare. He was a delegate to the Chicago Convention in 1896. He is a Royal Arch Mason, and is greatly respected by his Masonic fraters. He was married December 22, 1877, to Miss Eliza Davis, of Assyria township, Barry county. Her father is one of the solid and substantial farmers of that community. They have three sons, La Verne, aged eighteen, Harold, thirteen, and Leslie, eight. Our subject is a man of inspiring energy, and prepares his cases with the utmost carefulness, covering every possible line of attack and defense. He is a good cross examiner, a desperate fighter, and a formidable opponent.
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JAY P. LEE, Lansing. The subject of this sketch was born in Wak- eshma township, Kalamazoo county, Michigan, April 11, 1859. His par- ents were John R. Lce, who came to Michigan from the State of New York in 1835, and Sarah M. Foote, who came from the same State with her parents in-1837. He was the youngest of three boys. When eighteen months old the family removed to Branch county and remained there until he was nineteen years old, when they settled in the village of Athens, Cal- houn county. His father died at Athens in 1885, and his mother is still living there. He was the son of a farmer and was trained to work on the farm, and during the winters attended the district school until he was fifteen years old. He then spent two winters in the Athens school, and afterwards attended the business college in Kalamazoo. He then took charge of the farm in Branch county, of which he had the entire man- agement until he was nineteen. He attended the Union City high school, and was graduated from the classical course. For three years afterwards he was in the University of Michigan pursuing selected studies in the Literary Department, and during a portion of the time attended the lectures in the Law Department. He was admitted to the Bar in June, 1884, and in the August following took a clerkship in the office of Secre- tary of State, where he remained until the middle of January, 1887. He was married April 11, 1885, to Miss Millie Ross Graham, the daughter of Harvey M. Graham, of Athens, and immediately located in Lansing, which has since been his home continuously. Upon retiring from the office of the Secretary of State he formed a partnership with Charles F. Hammond for the practice of the law. The legal profession has com- manded his time and talents continuously to the present time. In 1888 and 1889 he was city attorney of Lansing under a Republican administra- tion. In March, 1890, he was appointed assistant attorney general by Mr. Trowbridge, the incumbent of that office, the appointment having been made upon the suggestion of Governor Luce and Judge Edward Cahill of the Supreme Court. Owing to the illness of Mr. Trowbridge Mr. Lee had full charge of the duties appertaining to the attorney gen- eral's office, and upon the death of Mr. Trowbridge and the appointment of Major Huston he continued to discharge the duties of the office until the close of the term, December 31, 1890. During the period that Mr. Lee was acting assistant attorney general he wrote all of the opinions of the department but two, which were written by Major Huston to the Chairman of the Board of State Auditors. The question involved was the right of one Adoniram J. Smith to the payment of a bounty of one hundred dollars under Act number twenty-three of the laws of 1864. The board did not accept the official opinion of Major Huston and so he wrote a second one, covering substantially the same ground as the first. The board of auditors declining to accept the opinion as the law employed Mr. Lee to defend their action, and disallowed the claim. Whereupon a
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Jay Pole
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proceeding for mandamus was instituted and the question submitted to the Supreme Court, whose decision sustained the action of the auditors as defended by their special counsel. It resulted in a saving approximately" of six million dollars to the State, as the particular claim was only one of a large class dependent upon the same law. The case is reported in 85 Michigan, page 407. Mr. Lee was attorney for the board of State can- vassers removed from office by Governor Rich because of the incorrect and alleged fraudulent canvass of the vote on the constitutional amendment increasing the salaries of State officers. They were removed from office upon quo-warranto proceeding and afterwards indicted by the grand jury for forgery in making a false public record, and for conspiracy in the mat- ter of making a false canvass. The Secretary of State was tried upon the indictment for forgery and defended by Mr. Lee, with Col. John Atkin- son and F. A. Baker, of Detroit, associate counsel. The jury disagreed, and the case was never again brought to trial. He was counsel for the defense in the Allen Whitaker forgery case, associated with R. A. Mont- gomery in a litigation which continued more than two years, and in which three trials were had. On the first the jury disagreed; on the second, at which Mr. Lee was unable to be present, a conviction resulted; upon a motion prepared by Mr. Lee a new trial was granted, and upon the third trial the jury again disagreed and the cases were nolle prossed. In 1894 Mr. Lee acted in defense of Nelson Bradley, cashier of the Central Mich- igan Savings Bank, who was prosecuted for making a false report to the commissioner of banking. He had reported his overdrafts at only half the real amount, and his checks and cash items as less than one-fourth of the actual amount; and had reported no rediscounts when there were about $180,000. The trial of this case lasted a week- and the jury returned a verdict of not guilty. He has been engaged also in a number of impor- tant civil cases, and has made his highest reputation as corporate counsel and business lawyer. Mr. Lee is successful in the profession, and is withal a most estimable gentleman.
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