USA > Missouri > Jackson County > Kansas City > A memorial and biographical record of Kansas City and Jackson County Mo. > Part 4
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see that he was not removed under a demo- cratic administration. Soon after the ex- piration of his term he returned to Kansas City and resumed general law practice. To give an idea of his standing in the profession, his ability and the favorable judgment passed upon it, we copy from the Salt Lake Trib- une a part of the report of the court pro- ceedings of 1882:
" His honor then delivered his charge to the grand jury, the general instructions being very explicit as to the specific duties and obligations imposed by law upon a jury of that class, defining every point in a very lucid manner. One of the points empha- sized was their duty to inquire into wilfully corrupt misconduct in office of public officers of every description. He then adverted to the Edmunds bill, making use of the follow- ing language:
" ' Within the last year congress has leg- islated with special reference to this territory. It is my duty to call your attention to some of this legislation. The first section of the act of congress, approved March 22, 1882, known as the Edmunds bill, defines who is guilty of polygamy as follows: Every person who has a husband or wife living, who hereafter marries another, whether married or single, and any man who here- after simultaneously or on the same day inarries more than one woman, is guilty of polygamy, and prescribes the punishment for this odious crime. The third section provides that if any male person hereafter cohabits with more than one woman he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and prescribes punishment for this office.'
" ' It is as much your duty to investigate violations of these provisions of law as any other. Your belief as to the injustice or justice of this law has nothing to do with
your duties as grand jurors. You cannot violate the oaths you have taken simply be- cause you may not believe the law is just or proper. The congress of the United States is a law-making power which you and I, court and jury alike, are bound under the sacred obligations of our official oaths to respect. The constitution of the United States and the acts of congress duly passed in pursuance thereof are the paramount laws of the land, and when we are required in pursuance of official duties, in due form of law imposed upon us, under the obligations of the oaths we have taken, to execute thein, we cannot, as good citizens, true to our country, 'attached to the principles of the constitution of the United States and well disposed to the peace and good order of the same,' refuse to per- form plain and well defined duties simply because we may not approve or are opposed to such laws. Your duties are of the utmost importance, and at times you may find them difficult. You stand between the people, the government on one side and the accused on the other, and you are required to act with fairness to all; you have not only a power, but a trust is given you which you cannot afford to abuse. It may be your duty to refuse to find an indictinent against an enemy; it may be your duty to indict a friend; but be it friend or foe whose case you are investigating, you will not, I trust, be governed by personal feelings or inclina- tions of any kind whatever, either for or against any person. That you will enter upon and perform the duties before you guided by an intelligent conscience in the performance of all that the law and your oaths require of you, is iny desire and ex- pectation.'"
As there were some men on the jury who were naturalized citizens the reference
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to attachment to the principles of the con- stitution of the United States, etc., was apt and timely, as it was a part of the oath which such persons took at the time they became citizens, and it undoubtedly had some effect with some of the jurors.
The case of Cannon versus Thomas was one of great interest to the people of the territory and especially to the people of Salt Lake City. It was a mandamus in which Cannon, the relator, claimed that he had been elected delegate to congress by a large majority and that the governor had refused to give him a certificate of election, praying for a peremptory writ of mandamus direct- ing the governor to give the certificate of election to Cannon. It was thoroughly argued and the excitement of the people of Salt Lake City was at fever heat. The court denied the writ, and in the somewhat lengthy opinion he used the following lan- guage: "If the duty of the governor in de- termining who has the greatest number of votes thrown by the qualified voters of the territory is not a judicial act, it is far from being ministerial; it is at least an executive duty of a political character which may at times require the best and soundest discre- tion."
This opinion was, of course, fiercely at- tacked by the Mormon press and many of the people of that faith. On the other side it was faithfully defended by the Gentile press, and the Salt Lake Tribune said: "Of the de- cision itself too much praise cannot be given. It shows with what a conscientious desire to do exact justice Judge Twiss undertook to perform his duty and with what masterful ability he reached his conclusions. While the friends of Mr. Cannon are disappointed at the result we do not see how any one who will read the conclusions of his Honor can
fail to realize their absolute correctness. It takes a higher plane than ordinary decisions. It gives to even the ordinary reader an idea that the law is an exact science and fur- nishes an example of a problem that could have but one solution.'
Judge Twiss' bearing while on the bench was always dignified and pleasing to the bar and all parties in court. He was always patient with others and painstaking and ex- plicit in the routine duties of his position, and in the investigation of the facts some- times almost inextricably involved with error.
Judge Twiss was married February 16, 1870, at Somerset, Massachusetts, to Miss Louisa Woodbury Clark, daughter of Rev. Nelson and Elizabeth (Gillman) Clark. Her father was then pastor of the Congre- gational church at Somerset, Massachusetts. Mrs. Twiss died at Kansas City about five months after her marriage. The Judge was again married August 5, 1873, his second union being with Mrs. Emeline Bidwell, widow of Alonzo F. Bidwell and a daughter of Samuel Conklin, of Tecumseh, Michigan. One child was born to the Judge by his sec- ond wife, but died in infancy.
In social circles and as a promoter of ed- ucation, Judge Twiss has ever held a promi- nent place. He is a member of Kansas City commandery, No. 10, K. T., and with his estimable wife belongs to the Congrega- tional church. He is president of the board of trustees of Kidder Academy, of Caldwell county, and also a trustee of Drury Col- lege. Whatever he has conscientiously at- tempted Judge Twiss has not failed to ac- complish. His tenacity of purpose, strict integrity and varied capabilities command the admiration and respect of all who know him. His office is in the Rialto Building,
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1131849
AND JACKSON COUNTY, MISSOURI.
where he is always found ready to give his professional services to his old friends, al- though he has no sign out as a lawyer. At 425 Gladstone avenue is a spacious mansion to which the Judge retires after the day's work is done. There Mrs. Twiss resides and together they entertain their friends or enjoy the quiet of each other's society.
EV. GEORGE W. LOVE, M. D., of Westport, Missouri, has devoted his entire life to the two most no- ble professions to which man gives his attention-the ministerial and the med- ical. Thus he has labored for his fellow men through a long and useful career, and all who know him hold him in the highest regard in recognition of his genuine worth.
Dr. Love was born in Rhea county, Tennessee, August 8, 1818, and attended the common schools near his home. In his seventeenth year, accompanied by his wid- owed mother and twin brother, Dr. B. F. Love, he came to Missouri, locating near Columbus, Johnson county, in the fall of 1835. Possessed of a deeply religious na- ture, and feeling that his services should be given to the human race, he entered the broadest field of ministeral labor-the mis- sionary-and in the fall of 1837 was em- ployed as assistant missionary to the Peoria Indians. In 1839 he was sent to take the place of Rev. E. T. Peery among the Pot- tawattamie Indians. In the fall of 1839 he joined the Missouri conference of the Meth- odist Episcopal church, and was appointed to the Clinton circuit. The next year he went to the Lexington circuit, the following year to the Hillsboro circuit, and the suc- ceeding year was sent as a missionary to the Kaw Indians, and spent the latter part of
the year in Christian work among the Dela- ware tribes.
On the 25th of July, 1843, George W. Love was united in marriage with Ann E. Mundy, and afterward served as pastor of the churches in Richmond, Liberty, St. Jo- seph, Weston and Booneville, Missouri. In the fall of 1848 he became the pastor of the first Methodist church in New Madrid city, and for the two succeeding years was pre- siding elder of the Potosi district. He then filled the pastorate of a church in St. Louis for a year, and was afterward at Lexington, Missouri. While engaged in ministeral work there his left lung failed to perform its functions, and he was compelled to retire from the ministry. This led him to take up the study of medicine, and he attended a course of lectures in what is now the Mis- souri Medical College, but was then Mc- Dowell's College. He received his diploma from Pope's Medical College, now the St. Louis Medical College, in March, 1861, and began practice in 1852, at Pink Hill, eight- een miles east of Independence. He built up that town, and was a prominent factor in its social, business and material welfare. In 1857 he removed to Wellington, Mis- souri, where he remained until 1862, and then spent two years in Lexington. After Price's last raid he left that place and re- moved to Nebraska City, where he continued for three years. His next place of residence was Kansas City, whence he came to West- port, where he has since remained, with the exception of seven years spent in Joplin, Missouri, where he removed on account of his wife's health.
Mrs. Love died on the 20th of August, 1890. They were the parents of nine chil- dren, four of whom reached mature years, namely: Dr. Lewis; R. A .; Annabel, wife
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A MEMORIAL RECORD OF KANSAS CITY
of John March, of Kansas City; and C. H., who is engaged in the drug business in St. Louis. The family is connected with the Methodist church, and the Doctor is a local preacher in the same. Socially he is con- nected with several organizations. He be- longs to the Masonic fraternity, holds a membership with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and was noble grand of the lodge at Wellington at the time of the break- ing out of the civil war. In his political views he was in early life a whig, but on the dissolution of that party he joined the ranks of the democracy, and has since been one of its champions, although he has never sought or desired political preferment. He is the oldest practicing physician in West- port, and has a liberal patronage. Few inen are more familiar with the early history of this state than the Doctor, and he well deserves mention among its honored pio- neers.
ON. LOUIS HENRY WATERS .- In the history of the bar of Mis- souri the name of this gentleman deserves honorable mention. In the profession where one must rise by su- perior merit or remain in the ranks of mediocrity he has attained an eminent po- sition that ranks him among the leading lawyers of Kansas City. He was born De- cember 22, 1828, and when a lad of ten summers accompanied his parents on their removal from Campbell county, Kentucky, to Fort Madison, Iowa. This was during the territorial days of the state and Mr. Waters largely became familiar with the ex- periences of frontier life. When he had at- tained a sufficient age he began reading law in the office of Miller & Williams, of Fort
Madison, and after his admission to the bar he began teaching school, merely, however, as a temporary expedient.
Mr. Waters accepted the position as teacher in the schools of La Harpe, Hancock county, Illinois, and subsequently removed to Macomb, that state, where he taught school and practiced law for a year or more. In 1854 he was elected to the legislature from McDonough county, Illinois, as the representative of the whig party, and while a member of the general assembly supported Abraham Lincoln for United States senator. When the name of Mr. Lincoln was dropped and the whig members gave their support to Lyman Trumbull, he voted for Archibald Williams, of Quincy, Illinois. In 1858 he was appointed by Governor Bissell as prose- cuting attorney for the judicial circuit, com- posed of McDonough, Fulton, Schuyler, Brown and Pike counties.
With the year 1861 came the opening of the civil war, and, prompted by a patriotic ardor that was not quelled while the strug- gle lasted, he offered his services to the government. Now that the story of the war of the rebellion has passed into history, the records of the soldiers of Illinois are as rich in deeds of daring and heroism as any page in the annals of the revolution, and their names will live in the affections of their countrymen "to the last syllable of recorded time." With the names of Grant, Logan and Yates, that of General Waters has found its place on the roll of honor as a loyal defender of the stars and stripes which now float so proudly over the united nation, emblem of an unbroken union and of peace and good will. When the country became involved in civil war, Mr. Waters raised a company of volunteers, which was mustered into the service of company D of the
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& MANI & CO. CHI.
Master Davis
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AND JACKSON COUNTY, MISSOURI.
twenty-eighth Illinois infantry, and when the organization of the regiment was effected he was commissioned lieutenant colonel by Governor Yates. In the spring of 1862 he was authorized to raise a regiment and was assigned to the command of the camp in Quincy, Illinois, where were organized the seventy-eighth, eighty-fourth and one hun- dred and nineteenth regiments of Illinois in- fantry. He was commissioned as colonel of the eighty-fourth, and served as its com- mander until the close of the war, when he was commissioned by the president as brigadier general by brevet. He led his men in many a gallant charge, encouraging and inspiring them to put forth their best efforts, and the boys in blue of the eighty- fourth won a renown that reflected credit upon the leadership of their colonel. All through that sanguinary struggle he was found at the front, faithfully discharging his duties, and among Illinois' honored warriors he well deserves mention.
In 1866 General Waters was appointed by Governor Oglesby as prosecuting attor- ney of his circuit to fill out an unexpired term, and in that position he acceptably served until 1869, when he removed to Car- rollton, Carroll county, Missouri, and re -ยท sumed the practice of his profession. In 1876 he entered into partnership with Judge C. A. Winslow, of Chariton county, Mis- souri, and located in Jefferson City. The firm of Waters & Winslow was dissolved in 1878 by the appointment of the colonel to the position of United States attorney for the western district of Missouri. While he was the incumbent of that office, by an act of congress, the district was divided into two divisions, which required sessions of the dis- trict and circuit courts to be held at Kansas City; and upon the passage of that act
General Waters and District Judge Krehel removed to Kansas City, where he has since resided. In January, 1895, he was appointed county counsellor by the county court of Jackson county, and is discharging its duties with the same promptness and fidelity that have always marked his career both in public and private life. He is an able advocate, a conscientious and painstaking lawyer, logical in argument and possessing high oratorical powers. His addresses before judge and jury or on the bench have a substratum of sound sense and legal knowledge that is un- disputable and yet is adorned and beautified by figures of speech as a stream is bordered by flowers.
The Colonel has been twice married. In 1850 he wedded Miss Cordelia T. Pearson, and in January, 1880, he wedded Mrs. Annie E. Wylie. In politics he was a whig until the dissolution of that party, when he joined the ranks of the republican party. He devotes most of his time to the law, in which he has met with signal success, but gives enough attention in politics to keep in touch with the republican party of Missouri.
ON. WEBSTER DAVIS .- To a student of human nature there is nothing of more interest than to examine into the record and history of a self-made man and to analyze those principles that have enabled him to pass on the highway of life many who started out before him and attain a position of promi- nence in the community. He of whom we write is one who has forced aside the bar- riers that obstruct the way until now he stands within that charmed circle, rich in honor and fame, a devoted son of his adopted city. Kansas City honors him as
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A MEMORIAL RECORD OF KANSAS CITY
her mayor, and the honor is justly bestowed. From a humble position he has risen to one of eminence. As a jurist he stands among the most prominent in the state of Missouri, and as an orator has attained a brilliant reputation that places him among the most fluent, able and eloquent speakers of the west. The life history of such a man is a source of inspiration and encouragement, and demonstrates to what heights one may climb where his progress is not barred by the unsurmountable difficulties of caste or class.
Webster Davis was born in Ebensburg, Cambria county, Pennsylvania, on the Ist of June, 1861, but since a very early age has lived in Missouri, his father locating in this state about the time of the close of the war. On the old home farm Webster worked until the family's removal to Chillicothe in 1884. He then became familiar with com- mercial life by a year's service as a clerk in a hardware store. The father again re- moved in 1875, locating in that year in Gallatin, Daviess county, Missouri, where, under the instruction of his father, our sub- ject learned the trade of shoemaking, which he continuously followed until 1881. It was his earnest desire, however, to acquire an education. Previous to this time he had attended the common schools to a very lim- ited extent. He resolved to secure further advancement along this line, and with this end in view went to Lake Forest university near Chicago, where he arrived with less than fifteen dollars in his pocket. The young man of ambition and energy, how- ever, is not deterred by obstacles, and he obtained the situation of attending to the street lamps of the town. This work he performed throughout the year, and not only paid for his tuition, board and clothing out
of his earnings, but actually sent money back to his Missouri home to assist his father in support of the family. But the parents and children were having a hard time to get along, and he felt it was his duty to aid them to a greater extent. In consequence, returning to his old homne he assisted his father in the shop and worked in a store, but ambition pointed the young man ahead to the time when he would be a lawyer, prominent among his professional brethren. He bent every energy toward the accomplishment of this purpose, and in 1882 entered the office of the widely known law firm of Shanklin, Low & McDougal, where, to pay for the instruction he received, he engaged in keeping books, and did their copying. He often "burned the midnight oil," continuing his legal studies far into the night.
The life of Mayor Davis has fully dem- onstrated the truth of the old adage that where there's a will there's a way. During 1884 and 1885 he was a student in the Kansas State University at Lawrence, and assisted in keeping boarders to raise the money to pay his tuition and other expenses. He was admitted to the bar in Garden City, Kansas, where he practiced for a time, but, not satisfied with his legal learning, he went to Ann Arbor, Michigan, entering the law department of the famed university there, and graduating in the class of 1887. He was one of the youngest members of his class, numbering nearly two hundred, and had neither wealth, position nor friends of influence to advance him, but inerit won an honor for him that the other attributes could not have done and he was honored by being selected to deliver the oration at the semi- centennial of the university in June, 1887.
Mr. Davis now returned to his home in
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Kansas City, Missouri, but his mother was failing in health and he took her to Pueblo, Colorado, where for nearly a year he en- gaged in practice. On the expiration of that period he returned to Kansas City, and accepted the position of chief deputy in the office of surveyor of customs for the western district of Missouri and Kansas. In 1892 he was nominated for congress by the re- publican party of the fifth district of Mis- souri, entirely without his solicitation, but with the remainder of the ticket he met de- feat. His energies were all then devoted to his legal practice, with the result that he was acknowledged to be one of the most able members of the bar. In the prepara- tion of his cases he manifested a care and thoroughness that made him master of the subject. He marshalled his evidence with the precision of a general, and while each detail was brought to bear with its full weight upon the case, he never for an in- stant lost sight of the important fact upon which the decision of a case finally turns. In argument he is logical and forceful, his repartee is telling, and his oratorical powers have made him known far and wide as a public speaker.
In April, 1894, Mr. Davis was elected to the office of mayor. Kansas City has al- ways been considered a democratic strong- hold; but, nominated by the republican party, of which he is an unswerving advo- cate, he carried its standard onward and upward until the word Victory was added to ' its banner, and the news spread that he had won the election by a majority of seven thousand! One who had heard him in the delivery of one of his masterly addresses said, "We do not wonder now that Mr. Davis, an ardent republican, was a few months ago elected mayor of Kansas City,
a stronghold of democracy." When he be- came the standard-bearer of his party he resolved that the issue should terminate suc- cessfully if such a result could be secured by honorable, straightforward means. He stooped to none of the assiduous wiles so often employed by modern politicians, but he went into every voting precinct and spoke to the people, convincing them by his logic, his earnestness and his oratory until he won a following that seemed phenome- nal. He entered upon the duties of his office, and the reins of city government have never been in more capable hands than they are at the present time. He has studied closely the situation, and his policy is a most commendable one. He is on the side of reform, improvement and all that is cal- culated to advance the educational, moral and material welfare of the city.
Mr. Davis is to-day known as one of the most able speakers of the west. He is an orator whose ability equals that of many of the best known statesmen of the country. His style is both unique and attractive, and in some points might be said to resemble that of the gifted statesman whose name he bears and who said, " True eloquence does not consist in words alone." Mr. Davis could never be said to belong to that class of speakers who thrill and interest their auditors at the moment of utterance but leave no lasting impression, and sow no seeds of thought that will develop and ripen in time. He is earnest, eloquent, instructive and entertaining. He is master of the art of rhetoric and figures of speech adorn his addresses as the flowers- that border a stream. A friend speaking of him said, " Mr. Davis has all the graces of an orator. He is a young man of remarkably fine ap- pearance, tall and commanding, with
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A MEMORIAL RECORD OF KANSAS CITY
great grace of manner and a voice that never fails in a two-hour talk, yet that is capable, seemingly, of infinite modulation at the will of the speaker. Mr. Davis is not simply an orator. He is an actor, as consummate and keen in his perceptions as ever appeared before the footlights of the stage. He has the scholarly tastes and literary culture, the elocutionary skill of some of the best known orators of the west, and combines with it massive force and sledge-hammer logic, together with an ease and grace of delivery that is seldom equaled. He has the power of holding his audiences entranced." Mr. Davis is an illustrious prototype of a self-made man, and having in his young manhood already risen to such heights it is safe in predicting for him a most brilliant future.
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