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 50
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103
The members of the bar who have been representatives from Greene county to the Legislature are John S. Phelps, D. C. Dade, F. M. Wolf, E. C. O'Day. V. O. Coltrane, W. R. Self. Kirk Hawkins, MeLain Jones, C. J. Wright and F. T. Stockard. Captain Dade before the war and a few years after it practiced law successfully, but he gradually weaned himself from it and devoted his intellectual ability to the exploration of meta-physical ques- tions. He was an entertaining and instructive conversationalist and never tired in talking so long as a listener gave him car. He was a speaker of no- mean pretention, using irony, ridicule and sarcasm with withering effect. F. M. Wolf is somewhat noted for the facility with which he changes his political affiliations. He is sometimes within the fold of one party and at other times he follows the shepherd of another fold. He is a good soul, however, and one cannot know him without liking him. His exterior, when his brow mars a thunder cloud, as frequently it does when he is cross ex- amining a witness, would indicate that his disposition is such as his name im- plies, but this is quite a mistake, for on the inside he is as quiet and gentle as a lamb. He is as faultless in dress as a Beau Brummel and as polite as a dancing master. E. C. O'Day was a man of fine promise but he died early, before his mental power had time for that development which his friends so fondly expected. V. O. Coltrane who was elected in 1908 was honored, as no member from Greene county has before or since been honored by election to the speakership pro tem of the house of representative. He was also on the revision committee, the most important committee of every session when the statutes are to be revised. By industry all his own he has built up a prac- tice which brings him profit. He is a plodder and the law he knows, which is. plentiful. he learned by toil, not by asking some one else. He is devoted to his profession and daily he adds to his legal lore a knowledge unknown by him on yesterday. The confidence business interests repose in him is at- tested by the fact that he is attorney for the Union National Bank, Drury College. Citizens Bank, the Mountain Grove Bank and the Springfield Security Company. McLain Jones has running through his veins some of human Nature's best impulses. Many and oft are the times unseen and un- known by others, has he caused the sunshine of gladness to glow on the cheek of sorrow. Fortune has dealt kindly with him and he now enjoys the reward of far sightedness in business venture. He is highly nervous in tem- perament, crisp in conversation and has a stream of the finest humor flowing through him. While he was in the Legislature he frequently wrote a letter to the Springfield Republican and the Leader expounding the Legislature in
467
GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
a style rich, rare and racy. He was not long at his post in Jefferson City until he was acknowledged as Springfield's friend and the speaker of the house always recognized him as "The Gentleman from Springfield." His true character may be best expressed in what he himself once said: "I be- lieve in the great brotherhood and fraternity of man. I want to do what little I can to hasten the coming of the day when society shall cease producing millionaires and mendicants, gorged indolence and famished industry, truth in rags and avarice robed and crowned; when the useful shall be the honor- able; when the true shall be the beautiful and when reason, justice, kindness and charity shall be enthroned as a queen adorated by all in this beautiful country of ours."
Charles J. Wright is of English parentage and the proverbial tenacity of John Bull is one of his predominant characteristics. When he grasps a situation or a point of law he never lets go; he hangs on, and not infre- quently he hangs when he has nothing to hang to. While in the Legis- lature, he fathered the bulk sales law and to his strenuous advocacy of it is due, in very large measure, its passage. Mr. Wright as a lawyer stands in the front ranks of his profession. He makes his client's case his own. He is strong in his attachments, and one whose friend he is, is not without a friend indeed. To his everlasting honor be it said he never took a drink of intoxicating liquor. F. T. Stockard is comparatively a young man. He deported himself with commendable circumspection in the Legislature and there is no reason why, if he desire, he should not be returned.
George Pepperdine was made clerk of the United States district court by Judge John F. Phillips. It was an accomplished judge and jurist who appointed him and but little less of a jurist is the man appointed. Mr. Pepperdine came to Springfield from his native state, Illinois, where he was educated and admitted to the bar in 1889 and at once began the practice. Soon it was noised abroad that there was a new lawyer and an exceedingly brilliant one in town. In a little while he began to get some clients and his presence was seen and his voice was heard in the courts. Not long after the old lawyers here who had grown gray in the practice, recognized him as one of their equals. Shortly he took his place at the head of the bar. His rapid development from a stranger in a strange land to one of the best known citizens and most prominent attorneys is almost phenomenal. Such unpre- cedented rise in popular favor could not be accomplished save by one into whose being had shone the light of genius. Of spotless integrity himself and as clean in purpose and intent as untrodden snow. he despises in others any conduct akin to questionable or disreputable practice. Open, frank, free and courteous in intercourse with brother lawyers, he carries with him their high- est esteem. It can not be laid to his charge that he ever failed in performing to the utmost any duty owed by a lawyer to his client, for no phase of his
468
GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
case ever escapes his vigilant watchfulness, and he nurses it from its inception to its ending, fee or no fee, all the same, with studious care, follows it with fervor through every detail and at last plucks the flower of safety from the nettle of danger. In argument, before a court, he is forceful, he is powerful. So skilfully does he present the law and so logically does his forensic ability press it to the conscience of the judge that it is almost surprising that the court he addresses could ever rule against his contention. Before a jury the Springfield bar never had his superior. In every movement, in every look he portrays the genuine orator, the finished, the polished advocate. His irony is as cutting as the slash of a Damascus blade, his sarcasm is as deadly as an early autumn freeze, his pathos flows from the wells of human nature's deep- est feeling : and often the jury that hears him yiekls to the influence of his impassioned appeal in the shedding of copious tears. His friendships are as strong as if they were forged on the anvil of divine love, and his heart ever beats in sympathy with the poor and oppressed to whom his bountiful hand ever gives abundantly. He is a great lover of books and has the largest, best- selected and most attractive library of any person in Springfield.
George S. Rathbun, W. A. Rathbun and John Schmook have, in the order named, been made referees in bankruptcy by appointment from judges of the Federal Court. Col. G. S. Rathbun came to Springfield in 1884, and, though afflicted with defective hearing, which more and more as time wore on estranged him from the companionship of his fellows, yet the warmth of his genial nature ran in swelling tide as in the days of his manhood's prime, and he soon won a host of true. admiring friends. He held the honor of his profession to be far above description and that none but those of highest character should be members of it. He made the "golden rule" the law of his life in its every relation. He was kind ; he was benevolent ; he was charitable. During our Civil war he wore the gray and returned from the conflict. on whose bloody fields he had bravely fought, distinguished with the rank of colonel. His legal ability was unquestioned, and he had not long been here till the docket of the Circuit Court told the taking of his place as a lawyer of the highest standing. As a speaker he was captivating. He has left a name for integrity and honest dealing with his fellows that will long be held by those who knew him in reverent remembrance. He was a Northern man by birth and education, yet he was as thoroughly Southern in thought. action, habit and impulse as though he had been born and reared amid all the luxur- ious ease and refinement of the sweet. sunny South. W. A. Rathbun, son of Col. G. S. Rathbun, was commissioned, on his father's death, to succeed him as referee in bankruptcy. In many ways he is a chip off the old block. He was admitted to the bar in 1892 and practiced in connection with his father till the latter's death. He is one of the few to whom the good things of life come apparently with easy effort. Every enterprise he touches seems to yield
469
GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
him ready profit. He is careful, diligent and honest in every undertaking, and no client has ever had cause to upbraid him for negligence in his cause. He is warm-hearted and kind and as faithful to a friend as the sunshine to earth. Many a time the struggles over life's rugged road has been helped along and his pathway smoothed by his generous hand; and in this quiet, unostentatious manner may it not be said he is laying up for himself treas- ures in heaven ?
After the change in judgeship of the Federal Court, John Schmook was appointed to the place held by Mr. Rathbun. He is comparatively a young man and one of excellent character. He was born and educated in Spring- field and admitted to the bar here. Of German ancestry, the sturdy manhood and investigating propensity of that race is a part of his nature. He was born November 9, 1870, and his admission to the bar occurred January 16, 1892. Like other youngsters and some others not so young, he yielded to the spirit of adventure and took a wild goose chase to Oklahoma. Mr. Schmook does his own thinking. When he presents a legal question the point of view is all his own; he has gained it by his untiring efforts. He is as genial as the sun- shine on a day of June and as honest as the day is long.
THE BAR'S OLDEST MEMBER.
The oldest living member of our bar is John Maxwell Cowan. He was born at Indianapolis, Indiana, December 6, 1821. At that time Indianapolis consisted of four log cabins. He is the oldest living graduate of Wabash College, where he took his degree in 1842. He was admitted to the bar in 1844, and was for twelve years judge of the eighth judicial circuit, compris- ing seven counties. He heard Lincoln and Douglas in their celebrated debate for the senatorship of Illinois. D. W. Vorhees, Thomas A. Hendricks, Lew Wallace, the author of "Ben Hur," and many other distinguished men prac- ticed in his court. He came to Springfield in 1888, signed the roll of attor- neys, but never attempted to practice here. He is a wonderfully well pre- served man. At the age of ninety-four he is apparently as vigorous as most men no older than seventy. His frame is erect and his step elastic. He has never worn eye glasses and has always abstained from the use of tobacco and intoxicating drink. What wondrous changes are wrought by the hand of time. There are now living but four men who were members of this bar twenty-five years ago -- C. B. McAfee, James R. Waddill, H. E. Howell, O. H. Travers. The others, and there are many of them, have all gone to "The undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns."
The ones named above have all been written of in this article except Mr. Howell. He is a native of Wales and came to America when he was five years of age and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1863. He graduated
470
GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
from the law department of Michigan University in 1866 and came im- mediately to Springfield, where he began the practice of law, in which he achieved success, and now, as the shadows of evening are falling on his life, lie is enjoying the ease and comforts resulting from the accumulation of his earlier days of toil and struggle. The most important case in which he ever engaged-important in that it attracted wide-spread attention and stirred the wrath of the community to its profoundest depths-was the State of Mistouri vs. Cora Lee, for the murder of Sarah Graham. In conjunction with Col. G. S. Rathbun and O. H. Travers. he defended Cora Lee. From the time of Cora Lee's arrest till hier trial and acquittal the feeling of the populace raged and surged. George Graham, who was charged jointly with her, was taken from the jail in the night by an infuriated mob and hanged to a tree.
John O'Day is the first member of the bar to pursue the profession. having in view as the main object of life the amassing of wealth. In this his ambition was fully realized, for he died by far the richest man our bar has yet had. In 1866 he began the practice comparatively poor. He rode the circuit, which custom was then in its decadence. When the other attorneys would be seated at night around a table playing euchre-( that was the popular game of cards then)-in a room where the hickory and black-jack logs blazed and crackled in an old-time fireplace and gave their friendly glow and warmth to cheer the happy abandon of those who were playing the game, John O'Day would be in the clerk's office writing the record in a case already tried or hunting among the decisions for a case to fit the one had for trial on the morrow. Hle was an indefatigable worker. He considered neither sunshine nor storm, neither passable fords nor swollen streams; neither summer's heat nor winter's snows, smooth roads or heavy ones, the sunlight of day or the darkness of night, when he was ready to go he went, and he always got there. To the gnawings of hunger and the calls of nature's sweet restorer balmy sleep he was alike oblivious. When he had a thing to do he did it. He was a man of large brain, fairly well educated and profoundly learned in the law. In his earlier practice he was employed to represent the defendant in nearly every important criminal trial in southwestern Missouri, and the skill with which he managed his cases placed him among the leading criminal lawyers of the state. Later he drew away from the criminal practice and devoted his tireless energy to civil business. In 1870 he became connected with the Frisco Railway Company and rapidly rose to the positions of general attorney, vice- president and general manager. He was ambitious, politically, not in the way of holding public office, but in party control. For ten years he was a member of the Democratic State Central Committee and for six years its chairman, and his masterful leadership is responsible for Missouri sending an unbroken Democratic delegation to Congress in 1882. He was physically the very pic- ture of perfect health and possessed to all appearances an iron constitution,
47I
GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
but all at once he was stricken by the hand of death and died at the early age of fifty-eight. He sapped his life by over exertion. Then, "For what doth it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?" Three of his brothers, James, Thomas K., and Edward C., all lawyers, all robust and vig- orous, died before they had attained to the age reached by their brother, John. Nor are these the only members of the bar who died in early age or before they came to the prime of life. J. C. Cravens, T. H. B. Lawrence, Frank Warren, J. P. Ellis, Wirt W. Ellis, E. A. Andrews, H. J. Lindenbower, H. C. Young, H. C. Young, Jr., W. W. Merchant, A. H. Wear, V. J. Stillwagen, W. E. Bowden, C. F. Leavitt, J. H. Show, W. O. Mead, J. M. Patterson, Jr., George A. McCullom, B. B. Price, O. C. Kennedy, Sam Kneeland, Walter Moore, C. T. Noland, John R. Cox, Charles D. Rogers, Scott M. Massey, Al Tatlow, A. Harrington, James R. Vaughan, W. F. Geiger, George S. Rathbun, Jr., Smith Brown, Thomas W. Kersey, P. T. Simmons, J. T. Rice, J. A. Fink, Z. T. Murphy, Harvey Murray, Jefferson Brock, W. H. Davis, J. T. Terl, J. F. Hardin, H. W. Horn, George Ward, D. B. Delzell, J. E. Kenton, E. Y.
Mitchell, J. R. Cox, D. C. Kennedy, - - Cabell, James A. Wilson, J. B. Evans, Nathan Bray, C. W. Thrasher, Adial Sherwood, J. E. Mellette, Mrs. J. B. Dodson all died before their shadows were cast on life's declining slope. Six of these-H. J. Lindenbower, James O'Day, Jefferson Brock, Harvey Murray, J. F. Hardin and J. A. Fink-met violent death ; they were killed by other men. But one of the slayers was punished. William Cannefax, who was charged with the killing of H. J. Lindenbower. He pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree and was sentenced to the penitentiary for life. He was defended by J. C. Cravens, on whose advice he entered the plea that in all probability saved him from the gallows. Those charged with killing four of the others were tried and acquitted. It has never been found out who killed Judge Fink.
LAWYER TURNS NOVELIST.
Frank S. Heffernan was the only member of the bar who ever sought fame in the literary world, except F. H. Sheppard, who wrote a book entitled "Love Afloat," but he wrote this before he was admitted to the bar and while he was a lieutenant in the United States navy. He was a graduate of the Naval Academy at Annapolis and was on the retired list when he became a lawyer. He did not practice long in Springfield and went for his health to Florida, where he lived for many years and died quite recently. Mr. Heffer- nan gave to the literature of his time "Romola," "Under the Palmetto" and "The Globe Trotter." These may all be found in the Carnegie Library in Springfield. Perhaps the work of Mr. Heffernan's which has given him the widest distinction is his "Globe Trotter." The humor of that is unique, and
472
GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
no one who knew Mr. Heffernan can read it without much enjoyment. Some of his touches of humor in it are as exquisite and original as his procedure once was in Stone county in the collection of a debt. He had a claim amount- ing to quite a large sum of money in favor of a St. Louis firm against some cattle men. He went to see the parties against whom he held the claim. They professed to have no money ; but they had on hand a large number of cattle, and promised payment when they sold them. This did not satisfy Heffernan. He went after the money and he was going to have it or know the reason why. This was before the days of railroads and telegraphs. He first thought of attaching the cattle, but he could not make the bond. He then had the probate judge to issue a writ of habeas corpus for the cattle. The sheriff took possession of the cattle under the writ and was preparing to produce their bodies before the probate judge when their owners produced the money that Heffernan went after : and Heffernan came away congratulating himself on the discovery of a new and expeditious way to collect a debt. Mr. Heffernan left one son, Talma S. Heffernan, who is practicing law and who possesses many of the characteristics of his father.
Val Mason has gained his reputation as a lawyer by hard and persistent effort. He is a man of strength in argument, and in trying a case his oppon- ent always knows he has a wily and well-armed adversary. Some years ago George Mclaughlin was admitted to the bar. He did not practice long and his name does not appear upon the roll of attorneys. He is a native of Spring- field and was educated here. G. W. Goad and Peter Hilton, at one time to- gether, produced a work on instructions to juries, but this was a compilation not productive of a fortune to the compilers and not very generally in use among the profession. Mr. Goad is still and, it is hoped for many years yet to come, will be an honored member of the bar. His unimpeachable honesty and integrity have gained the confidence of all who know him, and his un- swerving fidelity to all matters entrusted to his care has resulted in a steadily increasing clientele.
WV. D. Tatlow is a man who has impressed his personality on the com- munity and established himself in the exalted estimation of his professional brethren. He is a profound lawyer, a tireless worker, a consecutive thinker in the examination of a case. From a poor boy, clerking in the office of the circuit clerk, he has risen to be one of the most reliable of Springfield's lawyers, and is enjoying a competency earned by his persistent toil possessed but by few members of our bar. His firm, composed of himself and E. Y. Mitchell, bears the coveted distinction of having received the largest fee ever paid to any lawyer or firm of lawyers in Springfield-one hundred thousand dollars. His partner, Mitchell, is devoted largely to politics, having acquired his liking for it when he was a page in the United States Senate. He was graduated in law in 1894, and in 1901 formed his present partnership. While
473
GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
he is a Democrat of the strictest sect, and urges the cause of a friend with persistency, he has never had any desire for office himself. Rather he would direct the course of others in the direction he believes to be right, and it is impossible to swerve him from his selected course.
Thomas J. Gideon was not a showy man, but in his plodding, honest way he built a practice, mostly in the Probate Court and in his office, that yielded him a handsome income, every dollar of which was fairly earned, and he died regretted and respected by a large circle of friends. He left two sons, law- yers, Waldo and Harry, both of whom possess in high degree the sturdy qualities of their father. Waldo is associated with his uncle, J. J. Gideon, in the practice, and Harry is now judge of the Probate Court.
One of the prominent lawyers of the bar is Edgar P. Mann. He came to Springfield after practicing eighteen years at Greenfield, Missouri. He was admitted practice December 21, 1881, and is now attorney for the Frisco Railroad Company and is in association with his son, Frank C. Mann, and Bruce Todd, under the firm name of Mann, Todd & Mann. He is a gentle- man of spotless private character and of the highest standing as a lawyer. He is thorough in all the work he does and exact in every conclusion he reaches. His advice is safe to follow, for he gives it after a full under- standing of the matter in hand, already having that mastery of the law which enables him to speak whereof he knows. He holds in highest regard the purity of his profession and looks with disdain on any act or any man that tends to besmirch it. His son, Frank C., is yet young in the law and in the ways of the world, but he is studious and promising. His partner. Bruce Todd, is also comparatively a young man, and the fact that he is associated with E. P. Mann is enough to recommend him as a lawyer of reliability and a man of estimable character.
SPRINGFIELD'S GREATEST BOOSTER.
The history of the bench and bar would not be complete if it failed to mention the achievements of John T. Woodruff. He resigned his position as assistant general solicitor of the Frisco at St. Louis in 1904 and came to Springfield, where he was attorney for that company for the state of Missouri, in which position he continued till 1909, when he resigned. He was born in Franklin county, Missouri, January 6, 1868, and before going to St. Louis had been prosecuting attorney of Crawford county. Since his resignation as attorney for the Frisco he has devoted his energies largely to private enter- prises in which he has financial interests. He organized the Springfield Trust Company and was its first president. He organized the United Iron Works. He formed a stock company and built the Colonial Hotel. He was instru- mental in securing the location of the Springfield Normal here. The Frisco
474
GREENE COUNTY, MISSOURI.
shops, at a cost of two millions dollars, owe their being here largely to his efforts. He is responsible for the Sansone Hotel. He has secured large amounts of money for Drury College, and is now chairman of its board of trustees. His desire for Springfield's improvement built the Woodruff Build- ing. the Frisco Ofice Building and the Fraternity Building. He has done more to enhance and hasten the material growth of Springfield than any man that ever lived in it. When other lawyers who came here before him are dead, when the reputation and fame for legal and oratorical ability now pos- sessed by some are forgotten ; when, in fact, we are all dead. the name of Mr. Woodruff will still live in the monuments that attest with silent tongue the adaptability of his genius.
Born in Springfield, August 27, 1869, and educated in the public schools, Harry D). Durst has shown himself to be one of those who can by proper exertion rise from humble beginning to position of influence. AAt the age of fourteen he began to learn the trade of boiler maker and followed the occu- pation six years. During the time he studied law and was admitted to the bar January 16. 1892. He was a second lieutenart in the Spanish-American war and at its close resumed his practice, which has been gradually growing in size and emolument. He has proved faithful to every trust and may be depended upon for reliability and honesty at any time and under all circum- stances.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.