USA > Missouri > The history of the bench and bar of Missouri : With reminiscences of the prominent lawyers of the past, and a record of the law's leaders of the present > Part 47
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As was natural in a youth who had exhibited the energy and force of character of young Thompson, he entertained pronounced and radical opinions on the great questions then dividing men. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the Union and abandoned all his dearly cherished educational plans to respond to the first call for troops. He joined an Iowa regi- ment as a private and served throughout the war, seeing much hard and dangerous duty. That he bore himself no less gallantly as a soldier than he has carried himself honorably in civil life, is demonstrated by the fact that he came out of the army a Captain. During the last year of the war he was also appointed and acted as Judge Advocate.
After being mustered out he found himself in Memphis, Tennessee, charged with the duty of resuming the struggle to win success at the hands of Fortune. His military posi- tion as Judge Advocate had given him some insight into legal methods and turned his attention to the law. He therefore determined to qualify himself in that profession, and as one who has written of his life at this period says: "He set about acquiring a legal educa- tion with the same determination that characterized his earlier efforts in his literary course,
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under circumstances equally as adverse, though far different in nature, and amid surround- ings peculiarly unfriendly to such an undertaking. His means of livelihood during this period of preparation were diversified, precarious, and altogether unsuited to the tastes of a inan of his lofty ambition and great capabilities. For a time he served as patrolinan on the metropolitan police force of Memphis, almost literally wielding club with one hand and clinging to text-book with the other. Afterwards he secured employment directly in line with his purpose, in the office of the Clerk of the Municipal Court, and afterwards in the office of the Clerk of the Law Court of Memphis, continuing to utilize his spare moments in reading law; and thus, after surmounting the obstructions that lie in the path, in greater or less degree, of every student whose daily bread must be earned desultorily in other pur- suits than that in which he seeks proficiency with a view of permanently following, he was admitted to the bar at Memphis in the year 1869; and the career of a lawyer was conll- inenced whose impress has been ineffaceably made upon the jurisprudence of America."
After three years of practice in Memphis, he came to St. Louis, there met and im- pressed United States Circuit Judge John F. Dillon, who made him Master in Chancery. He continued to rise in his profession until 1880, when against a huge Democratic majority he was elected as a Republican, Judge of the St. Louis Court of Appeals. During the twelve years he occupied that bench he made a reputation which placed him in the galaxy of Missouri's ablest jurists.
Judge Thompson has always displayed a strong literary bent, and after his retirement from the bench he resumed the work in this field, in which he had already had considerable experience. He confined himself wholly to subjects of a legal nature, and has produced a large number of works which are destined to rank as authorities on the matters of which they treat. Notable among these is "Thompson on Corporations," in six large volumes, which is considered a mnost exhaustive and profound work, and to which the author has contributed the labor, accumulated wisdom and experience of a lifetime. His first work was a compilation on which he collaborated with Thomas M. Steger, of Nashville, and this work is known as "Thompson & Steger's Tennessee Statutes," a work that miet semi- official indorsement through its adoption by the Tennessee Legislature for use in the State offices. Before this work was issued he started another-" Unreported Tennessee Cases" -but the printing contract having been let to a new and untried firm, so many errors occurred in the first volume through the fault of the proof-reader, that the author suppresscd the entire edition. His next publication sprang from a suggestion of Judge Horrigan, of Memphis, Tennessee, and was a collection of cases illustrating the "Law of Self Defense." Because of this suggestion, as well as the fact that Judge Horrigan furnished the data for a 111111ber of the cases incorporated in the book, the author generously named it "Horrigan & Thompson's Cascs on Self Defense." Following this came "Thompson on Homestead and Exemptions," "Liability of Stockholders in Corporations," "The Law of Negli- gence," "The Law of Carriers of Passengers," "Liability of Officers and Directors of Corporations," "Charging the Jury," "Thompson and Merriam on Juries, " "Thompson on Trials, " and "Thompson on the Law of Electricity." He now has considerable inan11- script of books on hand which will be published at some future time.
It was through Judge Dillon, always liis staunch friend and admirer, that Judge Thomp- son began his career as an editorial writer for legal periodicals. Shortly after his arrival in St. Louis, Judge Dillon had established the "Central Law Journal, " still recognized as one of the most influential publications of its kind in the West. He employed young Thompson
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as assistant editor. Three years after this Judge Dillon retired from the editorial manage- ment, and Judge Thompson succeeded him. Shortly after this the "Southern Law Review" was transferred from Nashville to St. Louis, and he also assumed control of this journal, continuing as its editor until the "American Law Review" migrated from Boston and absorbed the "Southern Law Review," the two being yet known by the title of the former. Judge Thompson still continues as its principal editor, and besides has contributed hun- dreds of articles to other legal journals throughout the country in the last twenty years. That he should have turned out such a huge mass of literary work in these years is remark- able, considering the abstruseness of the subjects and the deep learning and patient care they show. But his friends know him as a man of tireless industry, extraordinary mental vigor and a wonderful memory. He is a constant reader, and there are few books worthy of a higher place in literature that he has not read. As an illustration of his power of re- taining what he reads, it is said that twenty years after having read "Paradise Lost," per- haps the most profound and recondite poem in any language, he could repeat the greater part of it readily. A work of his which has long been out of print is his "Recollections" of service in the Third Iowa Regiment, in which are graphic descriptions of the battle of Shiloh, and several other battles of the war.
Judge Thompson, beside his heavy literary labors, continues his practice as a lawyer, having formed in January, 1896, a partnership with Nathan Frank. One would sup- pose from reading this brief outline of liis career tliat his labors have been sufficient to keep two men busy, but notwithstanding this, lie found time to act as lecturer for several years on the Law of Corporations in the Law School of the Missouri University, and like- wise in the Law School of the Northwestern University at Chicago.
Judge Thompson attributes mnuch of his success in life to the love and assistance of a noble wife. In the dedication of one of his works he publicly recognizes her assistance, and of her he says: "On almost every page of my works on the law, I can trace the rec- ord of your intelligent, loving, patient assistance." The Judge's wife was Lucy A. Jenni- son, of Fort Atkinson, Iowa, to whom he was married in 1865, while still a soldier in the army. Of this marriage there are five surviving children: Dr. George H. Thompson, prac- ticing medicine in St. Louis, and Professor in the St. Louis College of Physicians and Surgeons; William D. Thompson, successfully engaged in the practice of law in Racine, Wisconsin. One daughter is married to W. C. Middlekauff, a promising young lawyer of Lanark, Illinois; the other to Lemuel A. Harlick, in business in Chicago, and the youngest son has commenced the practice of medicine in Racine, Wisconsin.
THOMAS THOROUGHMAN, SAINT LOUIS.
IN Col. Thomas Thoroughman's death the bar of Missouri lost one of its most admirable and worthy members. There was a multitude to inourn liis death, for liis virtues attached to him many friends, and their grief was as sincere as this brief review of his life and character. He was of that class fast disappearing from the scene of action, a true and pure American gentleman of the old school; one who, from the long residence of his forefathers in this country, had been molded by his country's environment into a true and exact expression of its peculiarities, and because reared close to Nature's heart was one of
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hier veritable children. Colonel Thoroughman was one of the old Missourians of this type. 'There was little of the exotic in his character, and although he spent the latter part of his life in cities, the change being wrought especially in the centers of population on the American character by contact with a great foreign population, had little influence in inod- ifying or changing him. The avarice and sordidness of our present age in him was absent and in a happy degree he was as genial as he was unselfish. Simple in his habits, his life and intercourse with men, you were his friend in ten minutes after you first saw him. No one needed to tell you that that broad and noble philanthropy which caused him to look on all men as his brothers, included you. You felt it. His was a strong and rugged eharac- ter, virile and forceful in all things, but his was also the heart of a child, as tender and as sympathetie. Even his faults were of a kind always human, but never rising from base or sordid passions. Those of the old school knew him best and appreciated hiin most, and to tlien his loss was inost deeply felt. He died in St. Louis, December 24, 1897.
As has been stated, Colonel Thoroughman was a native of this State. His father was a fariner, and on his farm, lying near the boundary line dividing Buchanan and Clinton Counties, in the northwestern quarter of the State, he spent his childhood and youth. Colonel Thoroughman's edueation was only such as was to be afforded by the district school, but he was a boy of high aspirations and great mental activity, and as he grew to love books, the rudiments learned in the school were supplemented by an extensive course of self-instruetion, which gave him an education inore complete than inany a scion of a wealthy house brings home from a high-priced Eastern college.
The first important crisis in his life was reached when he inade up his inind to become a lawyer. He had attained his majority when he set about carrying his resolution into execution. Leaving home he went to St. Joseph, where he entered the law office of Craig & Jones, then leading practitioners at the Buchanan County bar, where he studied for two years. In 1854 he was admitted to the bar, and began the sometimes heavy work of win- ning a reputation. An event that helped him greatly in making a start was his appoint- ment, in 1856, as Assistant City Attorney of St. Joseph, being at the next popular election overwhelmingly chosen City Counselor. This office gave him a partial opportunity to get before the public and enabled him to demonstrate his capabilities in a way that brought him a return in largely increased legal practice. After the expiration of his terin he was elected Circuit Attorney of the cireuit then presided over by Judge Elijah Hise Norton, afterward the distinguished Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri.
In the midst of the official duties of this position, the Civil War came on. The edu- cation and sympathies of the young Cireuit Attorney were Southern and he espoused the cause of the Confederacy. He entered the service and displayed all the qualities of the brave and resourceful soldier. He was engaged in many of the skirmishes and exciting struggles of the Western frontier and soon rose to the rank of Colonel. After the battle of Elk Horn Tavern he was ordered forward to reinforce the Confederates then going through the evolutions which finally terminated in the battle of Pittsburg Landing, but his command reached the field too late to participate in that struggle. Later he was one of those coll- missioned by Gov. Claib Jackson to return to Missouri and raise troops for the Confed- erate service, and while returning on this mission he was captured by the Federals. Alex- ander Davis was his companion at the time and was captured with him. After their cap- ture they were confined in various prisons of Missouri for over a year, and were then only paroled by President Lincoln on the express condition that they were to become exiles and
The Thoroughman
Tagn! Pubsrun, De St.Louis
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take up their residence in some Western Territory. Colonel Thoroughman chose Virginia City, Montana, and on reaching there in May, 1864, at once opened an office for the prac- tice of law. Being a man of ability, young and earnest, he was soon driving a lucrative practice. Such an impression, in fact, did the young lawyer make on the people with whom his lot was cast, that he was urged to and could have represented the Territory in Con- gress, but he desired to return to Missouri.
In 1869 he returned East, and opened an office in St. Louis. Afterward Judge H. L. Warren became his associate in the practice, and during this period the firm acted as attorney for the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway. After practicing in St. Louis for a number of years, Judge Warren reinoved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Colonel Thoroughman became associated with Judge Henry S. Priest. This association continued a number of years. In 1893 he formed a partnership with his son-in-law, W. Frank Carter, and liis son, Emmet B., which was in existence at the time of his death.
Colonel Thoroughiman was a man of wide and varied information. As a lawyer, there were few of his contemporaries who displayed greater sagacity and resourcefulness in prac- tice. He always manifested an ardent interest in public affairs, and was always ready to accord every measure of public benefit his assistance and sympathy. He was a Democrat all his life, and gave that party his time and eloquence in almost every campaign1. His personality was of a kind to win the fullest sympathy, and had he essayed the field of pol- itics instead of the law, he would doubtless have won a popularity and success greater even than he achieved in the law. Colonel Thoroughmian reared a large family, and had the satisfaction before he died of seeing the inost of thein settled in life.
LEROY B. VALLIANT, SAINT LOUIS.
MONG the lawyers of this generation in Missouri, no one is more justly entitled to A have a permanent place in the History of the Bench and Bar of Missouri than is Leroy B. Valliant, now serving his second term as one of the Judges of the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis. That court has the highest original civil jurisdiction, and before it comes the great mass of litigation incident to St. Louis becoming a metropolis. There have come to him in quick succession numerous cases, affecting not only large property interests, but also the most intricate and important phases of State and municipal laws. Special mention should be made of the various mandamus and injunction cases against executive and legislative officers that have come before him and offered hiin an opportunity in a marked way to exert great influence in shaping the policy of our laws. His decisions have made it clear that these extraordinary writs, which in late years have become so much more in use thian formerly, should be used with great good judgment, learning and care; that there should be no hesitation to apply them with courage and effect when they are rightly demanded, but care should be taken to avoid the abuse of theni, to which the tend- ency of the times would lead. He lias bech particular to leave ministerial and other officers to the full use of the discretion with which the law clothes them, careful to define the officer's responsibility and hold him to the performance of his duty in a proper case, yet at the same time careful not to trench on the constitutional or legislative prerogatives. That has occurred with election officers, Board of Health, Mayor, Municipal Assembly, Police
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Commissioners, State Treasurer, State Bank Examiner, Supervisor of Building Associa- tions, etc.
In State ex rel Wear versus Francis, the Board of Police Commissioners were by inan- damus compelled to rescind an order it had made declaring that the police would not enforce the Sunday dramshop law in St. Louis, and was ordered to enforce the law; it was con- tended that there was no precedent for the exercise of such a power by the judiciary, but the Court held that if a precedent was wanting one should be made, and the ruling was sus- tained by the Supreme Court. But in Neiser versus Williams, the danger of recognizing authority in a Chancellor to control by injunction an election officer in issuing a certificate of election is pointed out, and instances of the abuse of the power cited.
In the recent case of the appointment of a receiver of the Mullanphy Bank on appli- cation of the Secretary of State, as head of the State Bank Inspection Department, a decision was given sustaining the right of the Secretary of State to name the receiver, and so elucidating the construction to be placed upon the bank inspection law that the decision is regarded throughout the State as placing the law upon a popular and enduring foundation.
In the still more recent case of State ex rel North & South Railway versus Meier, President of the City Council, in which it was sought by mandamus to compel a legislative officer to sign a bill which it was claimed had passed the Council, but which the President refused to sign, the boundary lines between the co-ordinate departments of the government were drawn, the powers of the judiciary over the others defined and the danger of the abuse of the power pointed out. His opinions in these cases of a public character, as well as those affecting property rights of the individual, have been written with the same degree of care, not only as to the clear exposition of legal principle, but also as to elegance of diction, as if they were to appear in regular printed reports.
Having had experience prior to coming to St. Louis in presiding over a court of chan- cery for a full term, in a State where the old chancery practice was still in vogue, he has been particularly distinguished as a Chancellor in handling the intricate and delicate ques- tions arising in equity jurisprudence. Noteworthy has been his influence in directing the judicial mind in the city and State against the unwarranted use of mandatory injunctions in preliminary hearings.
His high moral character, courteous bearing, unflinching courage and marked learning, have distinguished him on the bench and shown to be natural his effort to dignify the court and bar; to make the young lawyer feel at home in his court; to impress upon members of the bar their high duties, not merely as advocates of their clients' causes, but as officers of the court, assisting in the administration of justice; to treat lawyers as inen whose word should always be above question and whose aim should be to aid and not to mislead the Court.
It is of interest to set down something of the lincage and early life that has produced this man. He was born June 14, 1838, at Moulton, Alabama, being the son of Denton Hurloch and Narcissa (Kilpatrick) Valliant. In the paternal linc he is of the Valliant and Hurloch families of Maryland-a mixture of French and English; in the maternal, of a Tennessee family, Kilpatrick, which is of Scotch-Irish origin. He graduated in 1856 at tlie University of Mississippi; in 1858, at the Cumberland University Law School, at Lebanon, Tennessec. He began practicing law at Greenville, Mississippi, in 1859, and from 1861 to 1865 was in the Confederate Army, being Captain of Company I, Twenty-second Mis-
L. B . Valliant
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sissippi Regiment, which regiment he commanded in the battle of Shiloh after all its field officers liad been killed or wounded. After the war he resumed practice at Greenville, where he was successful, both as a practitioner and as Judge of the Chancery Court.
In the winter of 1874 and 1875, Judge Valliant opened his office at St. Louis. His reputation had preceded him and he soon took front rank at the St. Louis bar, and was elected Judge of the Circuit Court in November, 1886. Toward the close of his first term of six years, the Democratic Convention nominated him for re-election. The St. Louis bar, with great unanimity and regardless of politics, supported him at the annual election in 1892, although the city of St. Louis was carried by the Republicans in both State and National tickets, lie was re-elected by 5,000 majority. He is now serving his second term and not only maintaining but increasing his hold upon the popular confidence and favor.
A careful review of his work as Judge shows that of the several thousands of cases decided by him there have been appealed to the Supreme Court of the State only 187 cases, and of these only thirty-nine, or one in five, have been reversed, while there have been appealed to the St. Louis Court of Appeals only 228 cases, of which only fifty-five, or less than one in four, have been reversed. And a number of the reversals were on minor points, the main points being approved. It is doubted if there has ever been a better rec- ord on our circuit bench.
Judge Valliant married in October, 1862, Miss Theodosia Taylor Worthington, daughter of Judge Isaac Worthington, of Mississippi, a veteran of the War of 1812 and a son of a soldier of the Revolution. He has three talented sons, one of whom is a lawyer.
By profession, a lawyer; by religion, a Metliodist; by fraternity, a Knight Templar; by application, a scholar; by favor of the people, a Judge; by nature, a inodest gentle- man, and as has been said of others of the Scotch-Irish race, "full of grit and grace."
BRECKINRIDGE JONES.
St. Louis, Missouri.
JAMES ROBERT VAUGHAN, SPRINGFIELD.
JUDGE VAUGHAN is the son of Thomas Hatchett Vaughan and Susan Bradshaw Vaughan, and was born at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, January 6, 1845. Little is definitely known remotely of the two branches of his ancestral tree, except that the families were residents respectively of the States of Virginia and North Carolina, at a very early day. His mother was a Lawing, and this was the North Carolina branch. Robert Lawing, his mother's father, was a native of that State and later one of the pioneer settlers of Tennes- see, removing thence to Mississippi. He was a man of standing and influence, and in ante- bellum days, a farmer and planter on a large scale, as was likewise his Tennessee neighbor, James Vaughan, Senior, the paternal grandfather of our subject. James Vaughan, Senior, was a native of Virginia who emigrated to Tennessee early in the century. His son, Thomas H., father of James, was a well-to-do farmer and a man of more than ordinary inen- tal attainments. He was more or less a student of men and affairs, and manifested an especial interest in politics, keeping himself posted on all the questions that appertained thereto. In early life he was a Whig, but on the extinction of that party, became a Demo- crat, and so continued up to the time of his death in Christian County, Missouri, on August 18, 1880. His widow yet survives, making her home with her son in Springfield.
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Judge Vaughan's parents left Tennessee when he was five years old, settling in Chris- tian County, Missouri, and at Ozark, the largest town of the county, and at Springfield, he has always resided. The principal part of his education was received at the Ozark high school, which was then considered one of the best in the State. Later young Vanghan went to Tennessee and entered Union University, but his studies there were inter- rupted by the breaking out of the war.
Notwithstanding his Southern origin, the young student espoused the cause of the Union, and under the pressure of his patriotism, ran away from home, and while he was brought back by his father the first time, the second attempt was more successful, as on March 19, 1862, being then seventeen years of age, he entered, at Cassville, Missouri, Com- pany C, Sixth Missouri Volunteer Cavalry. This regiment was then a part of the command under Gen. Samuel R. Curtis. Part of the regiment went South in the winter of 1862, and it fell to the lot of the young volunteer to participate in much active campaigning, in which he bore himself so bravely that he was made Sergeant Major. He was likewise, for a time, acting Adjutant of the Sixth Missouri. He was one of the army that under Grant sat down before Vicksburg, and he participated in many of the engagements preliminary to the fall of the city. He was at the battle of Haine's Bluff, under General Sherman, at the first attack on Vicksburg in 1863, assisted at the capture of Arkansas Post, was at the battles of Sabine Cross Roads, Pleasant Hill, and numerous others. Near Marksville, Louisiana, he was struck by a piece of shell, but with the exception of this wound, which was not serious, he went through the war unscathed.
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