USA > Missouri > Buchanan County > The history of Buchanan County, Missouri > Part 23
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.After his second return from California he practiced law in Platte City and Leavenworth until his death, which I think occurred in 1861, dying suddenly at the breakfast table in Leavenworth, while there attending court.
Almond was a fluent speaker, without approaching or approximat- ing eloquence. He was a fair lawyer, and, while not an orator, was an honorable and successful advocate.
THEODORE D. WIIEATON.
Theodore D. Wheaton came to St. Joseph just before or about the time Almond came to Sparta. Wheaton was from Connecticut, and was raised in the same town and educated at the same institution with Gov-
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ernor Phelps. When he finished his education, he went to Virginia as a schoolmaster, seeking employment. Having taught there acceptably for some years he immigrated to Saline County, Missouri, with a colony, at the head of whom was Maj. Harney, who was afterward Speaker of the General Assembly of Missouri. He taught school in Saline and in the interim studied law and then removed to St. Joseph, where he remained for several years until he removed to Savannah. He repre- sented the County of Andrew once or twice in the Legislature. As a practitioner he displayed the coolness and tact incident to the Yankee character. He finally volunteered in the Second Missouri Regiment, under Colonel Price and went to Mexico, arriving while I was there. He remained in New Mexico and became a distinguished member of the bar of that territory, as well as a member of the House of Territorial Delegates. His success there as here was the result more of tact and shrewdness than real talent.
PETER H. BURNETT.
Peter H. Burnett, of San Francisco, was the first prosecuting attorney in the Buchanan County District. He has since been Governor of California, and Judge of the Supreme Court of that state. Few men have had a more eventful life than Governor Burnett. He was a native of Tennessee. His father emigrated to Missouri when he was small, located in Clay County, which was then the extreme western county in Missouri. At about seventeen or eighteen years of age, he returned to Tennessee and acquired a very good English education, by the kindness of his mother's relative (the Hardamans), a very distinguished family, after whom Hardaman County, Tennessee, was named. He partially studied law in Tennessee, but engaged in merchandizing as a sort of episode in his life. He was not successful and quit merchandising about as poor as he was when he began. He then returned to Missouri and com- menced merchandising in Liberty, when he again failed. In the interim, he had read law, carefully, and was really a very excellent lawyer for his age. After a few years practice he was appointed Circuit Attorney for that district. I brought him his commission from Jefferson City in the spring of 1841. He was one of the ablest prosecutors I ever met ; the most industrious and indefatigable. No defendant ever found the state napping while Burnett was prosecutor. Having become largely involved by merchandising and seeing no speedy way of paying off his debts by the mere practice of law, he determined to go to Oregon. In 1843, with a large colony from Missouri, he and his family emigrated to Oregon. After many hardships, and some accidents, he arrived in that wild coun- try, located his land, and cut and split every rail himself that enclosed a quarter section of land that winter, and built a house etc. He engaged
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actively and industriously in farming. In 1846, when the Oregon ques- tion was settled between England and America, locating the new line. the British Fur Company was compelled to remove further north. They employed Burnett to wind up their business. The remuneration received enabled him to purchase cattle and go more largely into farm- ing.
When the gold fever commenced in California in 1848-9, it afforded a good market for his cattle, and he at once engaged in business there. from which he became wealthy. Out of the first moneys made he paid off his old debts, although barred by the statute of limitation. After he resigned as judge of the Supreme Court, he accepted the position of president of the Pacific Bank, at a salary of five thousand dollars per year, being a large stockholder himself in the bank.
Last year, 1880, having grown feeble from age, and unwilling to attend to business any longer, he declined a re-election to the presidency of the bank, which was unanimously tendered him. He told them for the last year (1880) he had not rendered more than half service to the bank and declined to take but half his salary; they, however, passed a resolution tendering him all of the salary. He still declined to receive more than half. Thus they parted. He then retired from business and is spending a quiet old age.
His family of four children are all in prosperous circumstances. In California, a few years ago. I met his youngest daughter, a very beautiful and accomplished woman, the wife of Chief Justice Wallace of that state, and a man of more power and vigor of intellect, than any man I met in California.
To sum up Governor Burnett: He was a man of spotless integrity. real philanthropy, indomitable energy, and a very high order of intellect.
HENRY M. VORIES.
Henry M. Vories was a native of Henry County, Kentucky, where he received a very common education in the common schools of that state. He emigrated to Indiana, where he led a varied life for some years, engaged in merchandising at a small village, combining farming and trading generally, and especially trading in hogs in the Cincinnati market, in which last business he declared to me that he broke three times in one week. When, growing tired of these employments, which were bootless and abortive, he studied law with Oliver Smith, of Indiana, who afterward became a United States Senator, and commenced the practice of law in a circuit abounding with good lawyers. Although he was only able to make a living, the contact with these men made him a sharp, ready practitioner, and a perfect master of the science of plead- ing under the old Chitty practice. He emigrated to Sparta, Missouri.
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in 1843 or '44, where he commenced the practice of law, in partnership with Wm. B. Almond. I practiced with him in all the courts of North- western Missouri. We were often together and often opposed to each other. I may safely say he was the most unhandy man as an opponent I ever met. His early vocations in life had rendered him perfectly familiar with the prejudices, the habits, and the peculiar tastes of com- mon people, and therefore in selecting and addressing a jury he was a very formidable advocate. He was quick, shrewd, always cool and self- reliant. When the testimony of a witness happened to be the reverse of what he expected, he never showed any mark or trait of his disap- pointment in his face or manners. He remained in St. Joseph until 1855, moving there, I think, in 1846. He then removed to San Jose, Cali- nia. He remained in California two years, and, although he succeeded well in his profession, he preferred St. Joseph as a permanent home. After his return, he built a handsome suburban residence in St. Joseph, in which he resided until his death, which occurred in 1876. After a most successful practice in St. Joseph for some years, he was elected a judge of the Supreme Court of the State, which office he held until just before his death. Judge Vories was essentially a lawyer. He had a lawyer's mind. Some members of the profession are good lawyers theo- retically, but never successful practitioners, and others are quite superficial as lawyers, but by tact and energy succeed very well. The world rates them as good lawyers. Judge Vories was good in theory and in prac- tice. He was a thorough lawyer and the most formidable practitioner I ever met. He knew little of politics and had but little taste for gen- eral literature.
His convictions, however, were always strong and fearlessly expressed. He was a Democrat of the old school and an unflinching Union man during the whole war. He lived as nearly up to the golden rule as any man I ever knew.
JAMES B. GARDENHIRE.
James B. Gardenhire came to Sparta soon after the county seat was located there, from Tennessee. Commenced the practice of law as a competitor of Almond, Vories and Hall ; was very modest and seemed to lack self-confidence, and was of a sensitive nature. He impressed me as having acquired a rather superficial knowledge of the law hastily, but had energy and industry, which soon enabled him to overcome these deficiencies of his early education.
I could form no estimate of his early education. He used good lan- guage-pure English-and seemed to have the ordinary literary acquire- ments of young men of that age. He was graceful in his manners and deportment, which evinced the fact that he had seen good society, but I
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never heard him speak of his early life, his advantages, or want of edu- cation. He soon became a good lawyer, and was really an orator, although he occasionally failed to come up to what his friends expected. I have heard him make as brilliant speeches as any man I have heard in the Platte country. Very effective in law arguments before courts, and as an advocate very effective before juries. He had considerable taste for politics and once represented Buchanan County in the Legislature, and was once a candidate for Congress. During his candidacy for Congress I heard him make two speeches, remarkable for their brilliancy, and in one of these he drew a parallel between Marshal Ney and Col. Benton. It was so thrillingly eloquent and pathetic that old men sobbed aloud. He became Attorney General of the state, and finally died at the head of some bureau in Washington, under Mr. Lincoln's administration.
Owing to his delicate health, his efforts were not always equal ; indeed, frequently, dissimilar. When his physique was all right, his efforts never disappointed his friends. He was as delicately constructed as a sensitive plant, in relation to his honor.
GENERAL DAVID R. ATCHISON
was the first judge of the new circuit, composed of the Platte Purchase and Clinton County. I drafted the bill forming the circuit, which was passed during the session of 1840-41. General Atchison was commis- sioned in February, 1841, by Governor Reynolds. I brought him his commission.
General Atchison is so well known in the history of the state and nation that much labor is saved in giving a sketch of his life. His life forms an important part in the history of the state, and his name will live in his land's language.
General Atchison was born in August, 1807, in Fayette County, Kentucky, a few miles from Lexington, at a locality bearing the euphonious and poetical appellation of Frogtown. He was a graduate of Transyl- vania University, in its palmy days, under President Holly. His father afforded him every advantage in acquiring a very liberal education. He was a very ripe scholar ; of fine literary taste and very familiar with all the English classics. He emigrated to Missouri in the Spring of 1830, and located at Liberty. He commenced practicing law at the same bar with me, and so continued until he was appointed judge. After I removed to Liberty, in 1833, we kept our offices together, although never partners, and were very warm personal friends, although politically, we were as wide apart as the poles. He was a strong State Rights Dem- ocrat, while I was a Whig of the most orthodox school.
After he was appointed Judge, he removed to Platte City. I prac- ticed before him in all his courts during the whole time that he was
A PRAIRIE HOME.
.
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Judge. I was in the Court House engaged in a case, at Platte City, when he received his mail on the bench. I suspended the case in which I was engaged for a moment, until he could look at his letters, and I saw at once from his face, that there was something very unusual in one of them. He is too honest and straight-forward to have any concealments, and his face is of the same tell-tale order, suffusing readily under any excitement. I proceeded with the case, and when court adjourned for dinner, the Judge handed me a letter from Governor Reynolds, tender- ing him the U. S. Senatorship, for the unexpired term of Dr. Linn, who had died. This tender was made, I know, from subsequent conversations with Governor Reynolds, who was from the same county with me from Kentucky, without any request from Atchison or his friends. It was a spontaneous tender from an intellectual and patriotic Governor, to a man who was in every way worthy of the high position of United States Senator.
I know that the Judge hesitated honestly and candidly in his accept- ance of the position, and offered reasons which were candid and, to him, were forcible. After his having submitted them very fully to me, I said : " Judge, fortune does not shower her favors on us very often, and a man should not turn his plate bottom upwards when it does happen, but should turn the right side up and catch all he can. Your refusal will mortify Governor Reynolds, and as you have some political ambition, you ought to accept. It is your duty to do it. We have never had any Senator from the western half of the State."
The Judge and I were rooming together at the hotel. I do not know that he did or did not, consult any other person on the subject. He wrote a very modest letter to the Governor, thanking him and accepting the position.
He served not only acceptably in the Senate for twelve years, but served in that august body as its President, and acted as Vice-President of the United States, after the death of King. While practicing law in Liberty, he was fond of hunting, and very successful as a hunter, fond of social life, and indulged in the excitement of politics, so that with a portion of the community who do not know what it takes to constitute a lawyer, he did not rate so high as he would have done if he had stayed in his office, although not professionally employed. He had a clear, bright, logical mind ; had studied law well, and kept up with his profes- sion by constant reading, when he was not engaged actively out of doors.
The position he took in any case he sustained with ability, and when he was on the right side he rarely failed of success. I deemed him one of the best lawyers, and consulted him more frequently than I did any one else. As a judge he was quick, expeditious and industrious ; seemed to arrive at his conclusions almost intuitively, and his high sense of jus- tice always enabled him to decide equitably. I never knew a judge who 15
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gave such universal satisfaction, and although his friends were glad to see him elevated to a higher sphere they regretted to see him abandon the bench.
General Atchison went into the Southern army and remained until he became dissatisfied, not with the cause, but the management of the army. He was essentially a State Rights Democrat of the Calhoun school.
General Atchison was never married, and since the war has been living on his farm in Clinton County, enjoying the privacy of quiet life, deriving his enjoyment from the associations of numerous warm personal friends and a large library. He has warm patriotism enough to make him anxious for the future welfare of his country, and is Cincinnatus enough to be satisfied with his herd, his fields and his household gods.
WILLARD P. HALL
Was born in Jefferson County, Virginia, at Harper's Ferry, in 18-, and is, therefore, sixty --- years of age. He was educated partly in Balti- more, and graduated at Yale College. His education, of course, was very thorough and ample, coming from such an institution. The family, (his father having died,) removed, shortly after he graduated, to Randolph County, Missouri. He studied law, probably with his brother, Judge William Hall, Judge of the Circuit Court in Missouri. He was very industrious and energetic and devoted his energies, physical and mental, to his profession. I am not aware that he ever practiced law before he came to Sparta. He was then a very ripe lawyer for his age, and one of the best lawyers I ever met.
System and order and logical arrangement were natural with him. His eyes soon became diseased and annoyed him for some years. This, I always supposed, came from intense over-study, using his eyes too much by lamp or gas light. He succeeded at once. Plain and simple in his manners as a child, naturally frank and easy with every one, he soon became a favorite, and from his youthful appearance, even a pet with his older friends. He succeeded, I think, Governor Burnett, as Prosecuting Attorney, and was a very efficient officer. He prevented grand juries from presenting anything that could not be sustained and prosecuted with great energy those he believed guilty. He was as an officer very conscientious. In 1844 he was selected by the State Demo- cratic Convention as one of the Electors, and I was a candidate for Elector on the Whig side. I met him often. He conducted the canvass with marked ability for one so young.
He had the criminal law, and especially the statutes of the State, at his finger ends, and could readily refer to them in a moment's time. During this canvas Governor Hall's speeches would greatly astonish those who
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have only known him in the past twenty years. He then, not without suc- cess, essayed the higher realms of oratory, and, although he occasionally let the eagle loose, he was clear, bright, logical and concise. For the last twenty years his style has been but little more than conversational, still. marked with even more of its original terseness, vigor and logical con- ciseness. He never thinks of indulging in pathos, or poetry or mere dec- oration. He gained a very high rank during the canvass, of which I have spoken, as a public speaker and as a well informed politician. To this, added to his high reputation as a lawyer, he was indebted for his first nomination to Congress, over many older and able politicians of his party. This was in the spring of 1846, and during the canvas Col. James H. Birch (late Judge Birch,) was his opponent as an Independent Democrat. Gov- ernor Hall volunteered as a private in the First Regiment of Missouri Cavalry. This he was induced to do, because he had been a strong advo- cate of the annexation of Texas, and the Mexican War having grown out of that annexation, he was taunted as not being willing to incur the con- sequences, which his course and that of his friends had brought on the country.
He went with us as far as Santa Fe, New Mexico, doing duty as a private faithfully. Soon after we arrived in Santa Fe I received a letter from my father-in-law, Colonel Thornton, giving a sufficient number of the returns to ensure the election of Mr. Hall by a very large majority. I showed that letter to Mr. Hall and to General Harney, and General Harney at once, as a matter of courtesy, and as he should have done, released Governor Hall from all involuntary duty. General Harney hav- ing orders to go to New Mexico with a part of the troops, in the dis- charge of an order he received from Washington, to devise temporary laws for the people of that territory, requested Governor Hall and myself to prepare laws for that territory to conform to the conditions of the territory, and to be in conformity with the civil institutions of our own country. We organized a Legislature consisting of Governor Hall and myself, and about six clerks, and the work of legislation was never more rapidly performed, each of us frequently dictating to two or three clerks at a time. In a few days we were able to present to General Harney a code of laws, which he was kind enough to approve, sign, as. military Governor, and promulgate for the government of the people. It is aston- ishing, considering the short time we had been there and our limited means of information, that we should have written a code that Congress. after the annexation of the territory, re-enacted, and which after thirty- five years I found still in vogue in 1881. Governor Hall determined not to return to the states until after he had seen more of the west, so that he might be more capable to legislate for its wants.
Colonel Philip St. George Cook, having been left by General Kcar- ney, when he started to California, to take command of a battalion of 500
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Mormon soldiers and conduct them to California as soon as they arrived and were outfitted, now took up the line of march and Hall accompanied Colonel Cook to the Pacific Ocean, going by the route of the Heyla River. He came back with Kearney the next spring to the states. It is a fact not generally known that the first gold discovered in California was discovered by two of the soldiers under Cook's command at Sutter's Mills. Hall returned and took his seat in Congress in the winter of 1847 and remained there till March, 1853, having been elected three times.
He made a very industrious, efficient and popular representative of his district and at the end of his third term declined to become a candidate for re-election. He remained in private life, devoting himself assidu- ously to the study and practice of his profession, and attained as high a reputation as a lawyer as any man in the state.
In February, 1861, he was elected to the state convention, which convention was called by an act of the General Assembly for the pur- pose of ascertaining the position the state should take in reference to the secession of the cotton states. He was elected and took his seat as an avowed Union man, and after Governor Jackson had abandoned the state, that convention proceeded to form a provisional government, and proceeded to elect state officers. Hamilton R. Gamble, of St. Louis, was elected Governor. and Willard P. Hall, Lieutenant Governor. Gov- ernor Gamble died during his term and the office of Governor was filled by Mr. Hall. Times were exceedingly exciting, as the war was still rag- ing in Missouri, as well as elsewhere, and much trouble and anxiety nec- essarily devolved upon the Governor. It is imposible to give any detail of his acts while Governor, as any one month of which would more than fill this sketch.
His administration was as satisfactory as it could have been to all conservative men. At the expiration of his term of office, he resumed the practice of law in St. Joseph, which he has followed ever since. He has been employed in all the important cases since his return to the practice, and has added greatly to his well earned reputation as a law- yer before the war. He has sought no office or position since. On the contrary, Governor Hardin told me that he had twice offered him the position of Supreme Judge since the death of Judge Vories, but that Mr. Hall had declined both times.
SOLOMON L. LEONARD
was one of the early immigrants to the Platte country. He had been engaged in teaching school at the time of his coming. He was in mod- erate circumstances, indeed might be termed poor, but he had pluck and perseverance enough for two men, but succeeded rather slowly at the
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practice of law. He lived on a small farm two miles from Platte City, about twenty acres of which he cleared and cultivated. From these two sources he made barely a comfortable subsistence. In 1843, I think, the state was entitled to five hundred thousand acres of public land, and Solomon L. Leonard was appointed a commissioner to select land for the state. The compensation he received for the same enabled him to purchase the land on which he resided and on which his wife now resides, east of St. Joseph.
In 1844 or '45, he was appointed judge of that circuit to fill a vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Henderson Young, Who had been judge for about one year after General Atchison's resignation. He continued in office until 1852, when he declined being a candidate for re-election. In most respects he was a model judge ; commencing court every morn- ing early at the very moment to which it was adjourned. Every day he got through the docket of that day, if it could be done by dark.
Lawyers had to work hard, and those who were not fond of hard work found fault. I always found him courteous and respectful to all members of the bar. The hard work imposed on the bar was not the result of any arbitrary feeling on his part, but a determination and an honest purpose to subserve the interest of the public properly. It would be better for the bar and public if more judges would follow the same course.
After he retired from the bench he formed a partnerthip in the prac- tice of law with General Bela M. Hughes. It was a very able firm, and while it continued it had as much practice as it could attend to. Judge Leon- ard's wealth gradually increased, and the property he left made all his family rich. The increase of his property and the business consequent upon it, induced him to abandon the practice almost entirely.
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