USA > Missouri > Greene County > Past and present of Greene County Missouri, early and recent history and genealogical records of many of the representative citizens, Volume I > Part 47
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from six cents on the $100.00 valuation, to as high as $1.50 on the same amount.
In 1879 the total enumeration was 9,648. In 1880 it was 9,953, and in 1881, 9,975. Those were years of slow growth.
In 1881 the superintendent was Jonathan Fairbanks, who soon after began that thirty years continuous service as superintendent of the schools of the city of Springfield, a service which he still continues in his green old age, as Superintendent Emeritus-a man to whom it may truly be said that the Springfield schools owe more than to any other, living or dead.
With his characteristic thoroughness, Mr. Fairbanks gives a full and ·exhaustive report of his charge for that year, and we will quote from it at some length, as a document well worthy of preservation.
ASH GROVE HIGH SCHOOL.
Total number of persons of school age in the county, 9,750; of which 9,012 were whites and 963 colored. Number of teachers, one hundred and thirty, of which seventy-seven were males and fifty-nine females. The sal- aries of male teachers averaged $33.60 per month; that of the female teach- ers, $31.66. There were ninety-five school houses owned by the district, and three rented buildings. There were one hundred and sixteen schools for white children, and thirteen for colored children. The average school levy on the one hundred dollars' valuation was fifty cents. Total receipts, from all sources, $50,776; total expenditures, $35,747.92.
Compare these figures with those of the report of our present efficient county superintendent, which we will now give for the year 1914. Nothing could possibly show any more strikingly the growth of the Greene county
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schools than these two reports, separated, as they are, by a third of a century of active, busy, growing years, and filled with the labors of as devoted and able a succession of school leaders as ever served any community in any state of the American U'nion.
Some of the principal points in Mr. Roberts' report for 1914 are as follows :
There are one hundred and five school districts in the county, including the village schools of Ash Grove, Bois D'Arc. Republic and Walnut Grove, and the three consolidated districts of Fair Grove. Strafford and Willard. There were seven high schools and one hundred and sixteen elementary schools in session in 1914.
There were seven thousand two hundred and ninety-four pupils of all grades, and they were instructed by eleven high school teachers, and one hundred and firfty-three elementary teachers. The average length of term was eight and one-quarter months; this is a marked increase in length of term over any previous year in the history of the county. Fifty-seven schools had a term of eight months or over. The apparent falling off in the num- ber of pupils in these two reports is explained by the fact that the report of 1881 covered Springfield as well as the rural districts. In 1914 Spring- field is omitted.
Ninety-six boys and one hundred and twenty-nine girls completed the eighth grade during the year. Of these one hundred are now enrolled in the high schools. Many of the remainder are reviewing the eighth grade pre- paratory to entering the high school another year.
There are 11,405 volumes in the various school libraries, and there is a vigorous movement to increase the number largely during 1915. The aver- age salary paid female teachers was $47.00, and to males, $65.00 per month. The tendency is to pay better salaries, as a means of securing better results. Mr. Roberts tersely says. in this connection: "In some instances it even pays to decrease the number of months in a term, in order to increase the salary and have a better teacher. A good short term is far better than a poor long term!" As proving the quality of work done by Mr. Roberts and his corps of teachers it must be said that out of the one hundred and fourteen counties of Missouri, Greene has the proud pre-eminence of heading the list for the percentage of improvement of the rural schools. There were twenty- eight schools placed in the approved list in 1914, and several more lack but a fraction of enough points of being so placed.
It is only common justice to say, in this connection, that a very large share of the credit for this showing of the Greene county schools is to be given to our present superintendent, Prof. John R. Roberts. The years in which he has headed our public schools have been years of consistent growth and steadfast improvement. No county ever had a superintendent of whom
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it could be more truthfully said that he was "The right man in the right place."
In 1914, too, there were organized in the public schools of the county boy's corn clubs and girls' garden and canning clubs. These were formed on the plan laid down by the College of Agriculture and the United States De- partment of Agriculture. The clubs were organized under the auspices of the Greene County Farm Bureau, and were guided mainly by the advice and aid of E. A. Cockefair, adviser of the farm bureau.
· The bureau offered prizes for the best acre of corn, the best dozen ears of each variety, etc. The severe drought in the county just in the critical time in the growth of the crop cut the yield in the region far below the normal amount. Nevertheless, a Greene county school boy took the prize, with an output of more than seventy-five bushels of sound corn from his one acre, which was certainly three times the average yield of the county for that season1.
For 1915 Mr. Cockefair has greatly broadened the scope of this work. The separate clubs for boys and girls have been merged into one and named "The Boys' and Girls' Farm Club of Greene County." The competitors are divided into classes of about the same age, the work is arranged for a series of years, so that scholars graduate from the lower to the higher grades, as in other studies. "Pig Clubs," "Poultry Clubs." "Canning Clubs," and judging contests are in the program. Each district has its own little exhibi- tion of the various products of its own clubs, and all compete in the fair held by the Farm Bureau in Springfield.
The cumulative results, in increased crops, improved stock, and expert farming, of such a system followed up for years, is beyond the power of imagination to compute. Certainly in course of time it would go far to- wards solving the insistent problem of the high cost of living, and many other of our national economical puzzles.
Already many a father among Greene county farmers is saying to himself: "If my boy can raise eighty bushels of corn to the acre, what is the reason that I can't do it, too?" And in order to answer his own ques- tion he is finding out how the boy did it, and his own crops will show the results in the future.
Thus from the humble, almost insignificant beginning the public school system of Greene county has kept step with the front rank elsewhere in progress, and in widening and deepening the lessons which it teaches. From the days when "The three R's" were thought all sufficient as a curriculum, to the good year 1915, with its great list of nearly eight thousand pupils, its one hundred and sixteen elementary, and its seven high schools, is a wide advance, and when all this modern machinery of progress is reinforced by thousands of library books, open to every scholar; and to all these are
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added the instruction and encouragement of the pupils in scientific agricul- ture, it can be seen that the great progress of the past is but a prophecy of greater progress for the future. That, indeced, the fathers of the commun- ity "builded better than they knew," when in their poverty they planted the seeds from which has in three-quarters of a century grown such a notable tree.
I most heartily endorse the ably written article on the Greene county public schools. I think the publishers are fortunate indeed to secure so ready a writer as Mr. Haswell. J. R. ROBERTS.
CHAPTER XIII.
BENCH AND BAR.
By O. H. Travers.
The lawyers of the Springfield bar have ever been recognized as among the ablest in the state. There has never been' a time since the first lawyer opened his office in Springfield that any case, even one of the gravest im- portance and requiring the profoundest legal skill in preparation and in con- duct, could not be as thoroughly sifted and as efficiently concluded right here as could any similar case arising not alone in this state but anywhere else. Not all of them are or have been saints, but all of them, with very few exceptions, have held in highest esteem the honor and integrity of their pro- fession. Some of them have attained to state and a few of them to national reputation. From among them have been chosen, from time to time, the ones who have presided on the bench, and in every instance the choice has been a judicious one. From the very first the judges of our courts have been men of marked ability, of great legal acquirements and of peculiar fit- ness for the ermine. Of the ones who have held and are now holding judicial positions I shall first speak. Charles H. Allen was judge of the first Circuit Court held in Springfield. The opening day of the court was August 12, 1833. At that term of court but two lawyers were present. These were Thomas J. Gevins and Littleberry Hendricks, and they were admitted to practice at that time. Mr. Hendricks afterwards became judge of the cir- cuit, but who Mr. Gevins was, whence he came or whither he went, no living person seems to know. Judge Allen is said to have been an impulsive man, but he was a jovial .one withal. Not overburdened with legal learning, he was yet sufficiently read in the rudiments, and his natural ability was such as to render him fully competent to discharge the duties of his office. When riding the circuit, as all lawyers and judges in this section of the country did in those days, on horseback, he would frequently come to a high point on the road which overlooked the surrounding country for miles and miles. Rid- ing to the front of those with whom he was traveling, and there were usually from six to a dozen or more brother lawyers, he would pull off his hat, wave it as a general at the head of an army and exclaim: "Attention, universe; by nations, right wheel ;" so full was he of the Ozark ozone, and so exhilarated in contemplating the unsurpassable scenery of the Ozark hills. On one occa-
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sion, going the circuit round, he was riding a stumbling horse. He remarked to Littleberry Hendricks and John S. Waddill, who were riding alongside of him, when his horse stumbled. "If I were the Almighty and owned the world I would kill all the bad men and stumbling horses." Judge Allen was a very profane man and on this occasion he was loaded with an overdose. He made the air so blue with it that Hendricks and Waddill were shocked. Foster P. Wright, who succeeded Judge Allen in 1837, was a man of far more than ordinary ability. He was well grounded in the fundamentals, was a close student. a well nigh perfect pleader and a dangerous antagonist at the bar. He practiced law for the law's sake, rather than for financial gain. As a judge his judgments were "true and righteous altogether." He died at a ripe old age, possessing none of this world's goods, but rich, let it be hoped, in the rewards of the future life. After about four years' service on the bench, Judge Wright was succeeded by Charles S. Yancy, in 1841. Judge Yancy was born in Kentucky and settled in Greene county in 1833. He was not regarded as a profound lawyer, but he was upright, devoted to his profession, fairly successful in his practice, and his appointment to the judgeship was a recognition of professional fitness well deserved. Three years before he was made judge he was compelled to kill a man named Roberts in self defense. He was indicted, tried and acquitted in 1838 in the Circuit Court of Greene county, Foster P. Wright being then the judge and Littleberry Hendricks, circuit attorney. The only person ever executed for murder in Greene county was a man named Washam. He was convicted of killing his step- child at the July term, 1854, of the Circuit Court. Yancy was judge and Littleberry Hendricks was attorney for the accused. The evidence was en- tirely circumstantial. It has been reported and currently believed that some years after the execution of Washam, his wife, the mother of the child, on her death-bed, confessed that she and not Washam had killed the child. This report. however, can hardly be received in full acceptance of its truth, for it is hard to imagine a woman would murder her own offspring. Anyway the report cannot be traced to any authentic source. The probability is that neither the man nor the woman was guilty of the child's death, and the execution of poor Washam, whose last words on the gallows were, "Boys, I never done it," will ever rise up a sorrowful reminder of the utter unreliabil- ity of circumstantial evidence. Mr. Hendricks did not appeal this case, and why has always been a puzzle to those who know his legal worth and his high professional attainments. He died February 7, 1857, and on March 12th, of that year, W. C. Price became his successor, by appointment from Governor Polk. Judge Price was born in Virginia, April 1, 1816, and came to Missouri in 1836. At odd times, while he was teaching school and clerk- ing in stores, he read law and was admitted to practice in 1844. After serv- ing a time as justice of the County Court, he was elected probate judge in
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1847 and served one term. In 1854 he was elected to the state Senate, and was treasurer of the United States under President Buchanan. When the Civil war broke out he cast his fortunes with the Southern Confederacy, entering the army as a private. He rose to the rank of major, and returned, a wholly unreconstructed man, to Springfield in 1869, where he practiced a few years, and then gave himself up entirely to the contemplation of theology and the solution of metaphysical problems. He was fairly well educated. possessed an inquisitive and penterating mind and as a lawyer was forceful, always relying more, in the conduct of his cases on legal principles than ad- judicated cases. Just before the clash of arms, in 1861, when prominent men in the state were defining their position, a large gathering was held at Marsh- field. Among those who defined their positions were General Rains, candi- date for congress on the Bell and Everett ticket: W. C. Price, on the Breck- enridge and Lane ticket, and John S. Phelps, on the Douglas ticket. Judge Price died a few years ago at his daughter's home in Chicago. remembered here by all who knew him with affectionate regard.
CHENAULT AND HENDRICKS.
In 1857 J. R. Chenault was elected circuit judge and took the place vacated by Price. When elected, Chenault lived in Jasper county, but a short time after his election he removed to Springfield. His opponent in the race was Littleberry Hendricks.
Judge Chenault was followed on the bench by P. H. Edwards, who, in the summer of 1861, went with the Southern Confederacy, leaving the Cir- cuit Court and all the appurtenances thereto belonging behind him forever. I have not been able to ascertain that he ever again returned to Springfield. As a consequence, there was no session of the Circuit Court till the spring of 1862. when Littleberry Hendricks assumed the bench as an appointee of Governor Gamble, and H. J. Lindenbower, by the same authority, appeared as circuit attorney of this, which was then the fourteenth judicial circuit. No abler man or profounder jurist ever sat as circuit judge on the bench in Springfield than Littleberry Hendricks. He knew the law and was absolutely impartial in his administration of it. He was honored by every member of the bar for his learning and every one of them revered him for his integrity. He was a plasterer by trade in his younger days, and while pursuing his avocation was employed by Judge Leonard, one time judge of the Supreme Court, whose eyesight was failing, to read and write for him. In this way he acquired a fondness for the law which later eventuated in his mastery of it. Hendricks died January 8, 1863, and his term of court, which began that month, was held by John C. Price, judge of the thirteenth judicial cir-
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cuit. That same year John S. Waddill was elected circuit judge and made a most exemplary one.
He was conscientious and honest in every act, and a thorough Christian gentleman. He was of the old-fashioned sort, of whom but few are left to- day. . And he was never so absorbed in instant official duty that he could not give attention to extraneous matters. At one time while he was in the midst of a case a countryman entered the court room, walked up to the bench and said something to him. He immediately commanded, "Mr. Sher- iff, call J. R. Waddill." J. R. Waddill was the judge's son. At that time it was the custom of the sheriff to call at the front of the court house the name of any person whose presence was required in court. J. R. was on the opposite side of the public square when he heard the sonorous voice of the sheriff three times calling, "James R. Waddill." He was then a lawyer of only a few months' standing and started to the court house in a hurry, his heart palpitating with pride at the thought that the public had been informed by the sheriff that he had business in court. When he entered the court room his father said, pointing to the man who had approached him on the bench, "Jeems, I have just bought a load of corn from that man, go with him and show him where to put it." A ripple of merriment passed over the sombre surface of the case on trial, and "Jeems" went hence with feathers drooping. Judge Waddill was considerate of the worthy young lawyer just venturing himself on the dubious road of professional life. He would advise him as a father would a son. take him into cases and divide his fees with him, and point him to habits of soberness, industry and rightful living.
Riding the circuit one day with Alec Hudson, a young lawyer with a wife and two children, a lovable fellow, but addicted to looking all too often on the wine when it was red, he expostulated with him and said, "Now, Alec, you must stop this. Think of your wife and young children and the sorrow you will bring upon them ; and then think of the injury to yourself as a lawyer by this drinking habit. Alec, I know you can quit." Hudson, with a devilish twinkle in his eye, kicked all the fat in the fire, when, looking at the judge, he replied. "O, Yes, judge, I know I can quit. too: I have done it so often."
Just after the war many of those who "went south" were indicted for various offenses and many were sued in civil cases. Judge Waddill was retained to defend quite a number of them. The bitter feeling engendered by the war still lingered in the bosoms of the people. A man who "went south" was already condemned if an action were pending against him. A trial of his case. if criminal, meant a verdict of guilty: if civil, a judgment for the plaintiff. The only course, with any show of safety for the defend- ant. was to avoid trial by continuance after continuance. But continuances could not always and for indefinite times be had. To secure them taxed the ingenuity of defendants' counsel to the limit. Where all others failed, Judge
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Waddill would succeed. It is not recorded that he was ever unsuccessful in securing a continuance. A prominent attorney said of him something like this : "There is Judge Waddill, the hero of a thousand continuances. When he dies and there shall be a monument erected to mark his final resting place a fitting epitaph to be inscribed on the monument would be, 'Here lies the body of John S. Waddill. He is not dead but continued." At one time he filed an application for a continuance in a case after his client had already secured the continuance by shuffling off this mortal coil.
Judge Waddill represented this senatorial district in the Legislature and was appointed by. President Johnson, register of the United States land office at Springfield in 1868, without his knowledge or solicitation. He died September 13, 1879 and his many excellent qualities are still held in fond remembrance by his associates who survive him.
PONY BOYD.
S. H. Boyd followed Judge Waddill. He was born in Williamson county, Tennessee, in 1828 and was brought with his father's family to Springfield when four years of age. He received a remarkably good educa- tion at the hands of private tutors which in those days was the manner in which the children of those who could afford it received their schooling. Before he attained his majority he crossed the plains to the gold fields and returned by way of Nicaragua. He was the first city clerk of Springfield and was one of its first mayors. In his early manhood he took a train load of bacon to Texas which he sold out and returned, with the slaves who ac- companied him and whom he refused to sell. to Springfield. He was in charge of the store of Johnson & Company at Forsyth when nineteen years. of age. He studied law with W. C. Price, was the first clerk of the common pleas court of Greene county and was twice city attorney of Springfield. When the war cloud burst, in 1861, he entered the army as major in the regiment of John S. Phelps and was afterwards promoted to the colonelcy of the Twenty-fourth Missouri Infantry Volunteers, which he commanded. passing through several engagements, till he was elected to Congress over J. S. Phelps in 1864. He was re-elected in 1866 and 1868. He was more thorough as a politician than a lawyer, though he always enjoyed a good practice and on the bench acquitted himself with honor. In facial appear- ance he somewhat remembled Henry Clay. especially his mouth, which, like Clay's, extended almost from ear to ear. He was a captivating speaker and his eloquence frequently wrung applause from those who were opposing him and compelled verdicts from unfriendly juries.
He was one of the first Republicans in the state to advocate the enfran- chisement of those who had been Confederates, and in 1872 supported B.
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Gratz Brown on the Liberal Republican ticket for governor. He enter- tained no revengeful feeling against his erstwhile foes and pleaded for the coming of the day when the wall between our Federal and Confederate cemeteries should be torn away, so that the daughters of the North and of the South could together place upon the graves of the victor and the van- quished alike flowery tribute to their valor. He was assured of the minister- ship to Venezuela but his appointment was thwarted by Lincoln's assassina- tion.
Judge, or as he is better known, Colonel Boyd, always stood in high esteem with and held the confidence of his party associates. His son-in-law, T. J. Delaney, has in his possession letters to Boyd from Lincoln, Seward, Chase. Grant, Sherman, Sigel, Blaine, Thad Stevens and other war-time leaders. In 1890. Colonel Boyd was appointed minister to Siam, where his health became impaired and on his return to his native land he died while on a fishing trip to the waters of the Ozarks which he loved so well. One of eleven brothers, he was the only one that espoused the cause of the Union. The other ten went with the Southern Confederacy. He was largely instru- mental in bringing what is now the "Frisco" railroad to Springfield, and had his counsel prevailed in the first instance there would have been no rival towns of Springfield and North Springfield. He was sixty-six years old when he died and there are those left here yet who speak in endearing terms of "Pony" Boyd.
In 1868. R. W. Fyan was elected circuit judge, succeeding S. H. Boyd. He was a clear-headed man and dealt impartial justice on the bench though he was a man of strong prejudice. He was by nature a politician and one of the most efficient and effective stump speakers ever heard in this section of the state. He represented this district on two occasions in the national Congress and to his efforts there Springfield is indebted for the boulevard leading from the city to the National cemetery. He was never a resident of Springfield. At a special election in 1869. W. F. Geiger was elected to take the place of R. W. Fyan as circuit judge, and was re-elected from time to time, holding the office till 1886, when he died. Had he lived and so desired he would in all probability have continued as circuit judge till today, for no fairer-minded man ever sat upon the bench. He had not so fully partaken as had some others at the fount of legal lore, but he was keen of percep- tion, right by intuition, broad visioned, exalted in thought and conformed his life to the admonition of the "golden rule." He was born in Ohio in June, 1836, and was admitted to the bar in 1858, and went to Steelville, Missouri, where he practiced till the beginning of the war when he organized a com- pany, went into Phelps' regiment, soon became major and was in command of the regiment at the battle of Pea Ridge, Colonel Phelps being in com- mand of the brigade. In 1862 he organized the Eighth Missouri Cavalry
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