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 67
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James Ir Garner- -
Legal Publishing Co, St.Louis.
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wounds of Gettysburg, he again joined his command and was severely wounded in the left ankle on the day that General Grant crossed the Rapahannock. After another siege in the hospital, he returned to his regiment, but was permanently disabled at Cedar Creek, Octo- ber 19, 1864, which with him, ended the war. He reached his home in Georgia a few weeks before the surrender, and his wounds, which disabled him for life will, until the final great roll call, bear honorable testimony to his bravery and the innumerable dangerous positions he occupied as a soldier.
Shortly after the war, he began teaching school, and in less than a year had secured a very desirable position as private tutor. It was at this time he selected the law as a pro- fession, and began the study of that science in the office of Col. L. N. Whittle, at Macon, Georgia. In January, 1867, he entered the law department of the University of Virginia, completed his professional studies and in July, 1868, graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Only taking time to pay a visit to his home in Georgia, he struck out for the great land west of the Mississippi, in October, 1868, landing in St. Louis, where he made up his mind to locate. He was there admitted to practice by Circuit Judge Roderick Rom- bauer, but after a few months spent in the metropolis, he concluded to push on further west, and in pursuance of his quest, he reached Clinton, and there finally pitched his tent. Fame and fortune were not rapidly achieved, as Clinton had yet to develop, and secure rail- roads and surrounding population. In 1875, having won the favorable opinion of George G. Vest, now Senator from Missouri, then in active practice in that section of Missouri, the latter offered the young lawyer a partnership, and because of this change in his affairs, Mr. Gantt removed to Sedalia, where he continued as Mr. Vest's partner until 1880. As he maintained his interest in Clinton throughout this time, and did not cease to look upon it as a place to which he would some day return, in the same year he began practice there for the second time, he was elected Judge of the Twenty-second Judicial Circuit. His service of six years in that position, his probity, exact impartiality and splendid judicial acumen wholly won the hearts of the people, his constituents. He could have succeeded himself without the asking, and more than one good citizen of that part of the State was disappointed because he refused to yield to the urging of his friends and again become a candidate.
He returned to his private practice after leaving the bench, and for a period of four years had all the legal business he could attend to. In 1890 he was again called to public station, being elected, in November of that year, to the Supreme Bench of the State, succeeding Judge Robert D. Ray. On assuming the ermine he was elected Presiding Justice of Division No. 2, and on Judge Barclay's resignation, February 1, 1898, he was elected Chief Justice.
Judge Gantt is essentially a jurist, and on his record on the bench, rather than as a practitioner before the courts, must his fame rest. His grasp of profound legal proposi- tions, and the learning and legal discrimination displayed by him in many of the opin- ions handed down from the bench, are often a surprise even to those who know him best. The bench is the position to which he is fitted above all others, and it may be assumed that his career as an interpreter of the law is only begun.
The people of the State have been made vividly sensible of the possession of his part of an extraordinary judicial instinct, which seems to search out the equities of the most intricate proposition; and this added to his learning and experience, will doubtless be to him material from which he will carve a most enduring fame.
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April 23, 1872, Judge Gantt was married to Miss Alice Warth, daughter of one of the best families of Clinton. She died August 8, 1889, leaving four children. The Judge was again married, July, 1891, to Mrs. Mattic W. Lce, an estimable lady of Clinton.
JAMES W. GARNER, KANSAS CITY.
R AY County, Missouri, is the home of many notable lawyers, but perhaps the foremost of these can be included in the Garner family, who have made Richmond their place of abode. James W. Garner, the subject of this sketch, was born September 2, 1852, in Richmond, Ray County, Missouri, and came of a gifted father and grandfather, of whom a full record will be found in the sketch following this.
James W. Garner was educated at Richmond College, in the town of Richmond, Ray County, Missouri, and after studying law in the office of Doniphan & Garner, at Richmond, was admitted to the bar when twenty-four years old by Judge Philemon Lucas, Judge of the Ray County Circuit Court. Continuing to reside in Richmond and practice law there until May, 1887, he then removed to Kansas City, Missouri, where he has been in practice for the past eleven years.
His election to the position of Prosecuting Attorney of Ray County for two terms, in the fall of 1882 and the fall of 1884, was a standing proof of the appreciation his fellow- citizens had of his ability. Though frequently tempted to enter politics, he has persistently refused, preferring to shine exclusively as a lawyer. He has been connected with some notable cases in the jurisprudence of Missouri, a few of which may here be enumerated. The case of the State of Missouri versus James L. Kyer, one of the most prominent in Northwest Missouri, was prosecuted by him, three weeks being consumed in the trial. He was also prosecutor in the case against the notorious Bob Ford, the assassin of Jesse James, the charge being murder in the first degree and the trial taking place in the Circuit Court of Clinton County, the result being an acquittal. Later he defended Charley Ford, the brother of Bob, charged with robberies in connection with the James gang. The result of his defense in the case of William Peake, City Treasurer of Kansas City, indicted for em- bezzling $20,000, was an acquittal. The acquittal in the case of Blanche Connors, accused of murder in the first degree, was also in consequence largely of Mr. Garner's skillful defense. The cases in which the elections of officers in Jackson County were con- tested had Mr. Garner for defending advocate, and they were won by him. In the suit for $25,000 brought by Vineyard against the Leslie E. Keeley Company, and the later suit of Johnston versus Leslic E. Keeley for $100,000 damages, involving the disclosure of the formula of the Keeley cure, Mr. Garner was successful in securing a verdict. Another noteworthy case was that of B. F. Cates, charged with murder in the first degree, rela- tive to which there were three trials, Mr. Garner finally succeeding in having the defend- ant discharged.
During the quarter of a century of his law practice, he has done some remarkable legal work, achieving in that time the reputation of defending twenty men accused of mur- der without one verdict of conviction. Still he has been as successful in the conduct of civil suits as in the prosecution or defense of criminal cases. The capacity to present a
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case with force and clearness is one of the prominent characteristics of Mr. Garner as a lawyer, and lies perhaps at the bottom of the power to convince, which he displays before all Judges and uries.
As a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias he has made a notable record, having occupied all the chairs in the subordinate lodges of the Odd Fellows, and is a member of the Grand Lodge of Missouri. He is now Supreme President of the Knights and Ladies of the Fireside, a benevolent insurance organization, having been elected in October, 1897. Although never a candidate for any political office except that of the Prosecuting Attorneyship, he has always been the inost prudent and pro- gressive of Democrats, accomplishing splendid results as a member of the Democratic County Committee of Jackson County for the years 1895 and 1896.
Mr. Garner has been twice married, the first time to Leonora Snoddy, daughter of Samuel F. Snoddy, a leading citizen of Howard County, and of this mariage there was born one child. After the death of his first wife he married Miss Carrie Cates, of Galesburg, Illinois, by whom he has two children.
THE GARNERS, RICHMOND.
FEW names are better and more favorably known in the general and legal history of Northwest Missouri than the Garners, father and son, of Richmond, Ray County. Both have added to the material prosperity and advancement of their sections and both have been for many years conspicuous figures of the legal fraternity in that part of the State. The father, Christopher Trigg Garner, was a inan of commanding influence in Ray County, both in the regular affairs of life and of those that appertained to his profession, up to the time of his death, which occurred January 31, 1897. His son, who from 1876 was his father's partner until his death, is now his successor, and is likewise the inheritor of much of his fine natural legal capacity, his liberal broad-mindedness and his gift as an eloquent pleader.
Christopher Trigg Garner, the elder, was a native of Missouri, having been born in Howard County, March 25, 1825. His father, Jesse W. Garner, a Kentuckian, was one of Missouri's earliest pioneers. He settled in Howard County at a very early day and at a time when it was about the only civilized and developed spot in what was then virtually a vast wilderness. Being a carpenter, lie built the first school and college building at Fay- ette. His wife and helpmeet was, when he courted her, Docea Trigg, daughter of Gen. Stephen Trigg, of Virginia. The Triggs were of English origin and an historical family of the Old Dominion. It made a settlement in that State at a very early day and subsequently gave inany of its sons to the cause of human liberty as wrought ont in the American Revolution.
Christopher's youth was that of other boys of that time and place -frugal, busy and healthful-an environment whose simplicity, closeness to nature, honesty and industry, seem to have made it the ideal condition, if we are to measure its benefits by the strong, able men of noble character it produced; and who from such simple surroundings rose to take their places as leaders in thought and action, have left the effects of their influence for good on American history in every generation since the Revolution. Of similar nature were
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the surroundings of him who for many years occupied such an enviable place at the bar of Northwest Missouri. He received his education at the log school house of that day and when he grew old enough, became his father's assistant at the carpenter bench.
Although he was attentive and industrious always, his ambition led him to dream of higher things-of the law- which was then (in that time and place) the patliway of all others that led to advancement and success. In the intervals when he rested from his physical exertions, he began his mental labor, and thus after a time he was enabled to begin the realization of his hopes through the encouragement and kindness of Hon. Geo. W. Dunn, of Richmond, Missouri. He entered his office and prosecuted his studies for three years, or until 1848, when lie was admitted to the bar at Richmond by Judge A. A. King, afterward Governor of Missouri. Judge King was interested in the young beginner and advised him to remain in Ray County, notwithstanding there were many established attorneys of reputation at that bar. The advice was followed, the young lawyer's first office being but a desk in a drug store, and he began practice withont a single book; but the people of Ray County soon saw that he was thoroughly in earnest, they noted his diligence and came to know that lie was conscientious as well as ambitious. He soon secured busi- ness enough to repay Judge Dunn the money he liad advanced and to open a regular office. In1 1852 lic was elected Prosecuting Attorney and on the expiration of his term in 1856, declined renomination for a second term. The law and the ambition to perfect himself in a knowledge of its science, was the ruling passion of his life, and notwithstanding his undisputed popularity and the many opportunities that came as an inducement to enter the field of politics, his aspirations did not lead him in that direction. Nevertheless, in 1862 he was indneed to accept an election to the Legislature and served one term in that body.
He was a man of great public spirit, and gave of his time and talent to the material deevlopment of the section wherein he lived. He was one of the leading spirits in the organization and construction of both the St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern Railway, and the St. Joseph & St. Louis Railway, both roads now being a part of the Wabash System. He was the attorney of these roads, and after their absorption by the Wabash, continued as the attorney of the greater corporation until his death. He was one of the organizers of the Ray County Savings Bank, was for many years one of its directors, and was promi- nent in every enterprise contemplating the welfare of his city and section. In politics, Mr. Garner was a Democrat, but in his younger days an adherent of the old Whig party. He was a Mason and for a long period was one of the active members of that fraternity.
Mr. Garner was married November 5, 1850. Elizabeth B. Mosby, daughter of James Mosby, of Callaway County, Missouri, became his wife and bore him an interesting family of seven children. She survives her husband. The two oldest sons, James W. and Chris- topher T., Jr., followed in their father's footsteps and are practicing lawyers.
Of the second son, Christopher T., his father's successor and his namesake, it may be said truly that he is one of the most brilliant and successful young lawyers of the "Platte Purchase," a section that has always been noted because of the higli legal and intellectual attainments of its bar. The son of a lawyer, he carly manifested those peculiar traits and the bent of mind which led his father to select him as the son on whom his own legal mantle should fall when age finally unloosed his grasp; and his career up to this point has fully realized the sangnine confidence of his relatives and friends. He is a man of broad and liberal mind and the most thorough legal culture. He is more or less of a
6 9 Garner In
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student, and is a thinker along original lines. No less conscientious and devoted to the interest of his clients than was his father, when he enters into whatsoever cause he may espouse, it is with a zest and enthusiasm that exhausts his every power. In the manage- ment of a suit he is resourceful and ready, and conducts his cause with a skill similar to that of an able military leader in the field.
Christopher T. Garner, Jr., was born in the town where he has spent his life and where his reputation as a lawyer has been made. He first saw the light there, January 15, 1855. After acquiring the rudiments of an education in the common schools, he completed his schooling at Richmond College. At once entering his father's office as a law student, he was admitted to the bar at Richmond in 1876. He was taken into partnership by his father and has actively engaged in professional work since then, the greater share of the firm's heavy business falling on his shoulders. He has been urged often to accept public office, but has declined, preferring to follow his chosen profession and by his zeal and energy is accumulating a competency. On his father's death he was appointed as the latter's suc- cessor by the Wabash, and also succeeded to his other interests and responsibilities.
In May, 1879, Mr. Garner was united in marriage with Minnie A. Hume, a handsome and accomplished daughter of Howard County, Missouri. They have three children.
Mr. Garner is yet in the morning of life. With a remunerative practice, with an enviable reputation as a skillful lawyer, with loving wife and children and a host of friends, his present is as satisfying as his future is bright.
EDWARD PAYSON GATES, KANSAS CITY.
EDWARD PAYSON GATES, Judge of the Circuit Court of Jackson County, was E born at Lunnenburgh, Vermont, March 5, 1845. The earliest American repre- sentative of the Gates family was Stephen Gates, who was born at Higham, England, and was the son of Thomas Gates, of Norwich, Norfolk County, England. Stephen came to America in the ship "Diligent," of Ipswich, arriving in 1638. He settled in Highail, Massachusetts, the town that bore the name of his native place in England. He was one of the founders in 1654 of Lancaster, Massachusetts, and died in Cambridge, Massachu- setts, in 1662. He was made of that stern, brave stuff, which in the face of almost insuperable obstacles, reclaimed New England from the wilderness and red savage. He was active, energetic and a man of influence and standing among the pioneers of his day. His great grandson, Capt. Silas Gates, was a patriot of the American Revolution and cominanded a company in Col. Jonathan Ward's regiment of Massachusetts troops. He served throughout the years 1775-76-77, and was for a time also connected with Col. J. Reed's Massachusetts Volunteers. His son, Samuel Gates, who was the great grandfather of our subject, following the example of his father, also enlisted in the Army of Liberation and served through many hotly contested campaigns. Judge Gates' father was George W. and his mother Sarah D. Gates, nee Todd. The former was a man of force of character and ability. He served as United States Marshal of Vermont, being appointed to the office by President Van Buren. In 1850, with his family, he emigrated westward, settling at Port Byron, Rock Island County, Illinois. In 1865 he again moved, selecting Independence, Missouri, as liis location. He came to be esteemed highly by the people among whom he
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liad settled and rose to be one of the eivie and political leaders of that seetion of the State. In 1868-69 he was elected and served as presiding Judge of the County Court. In 1870 he was cleeted to represent Jackson County in the State Legislature, serving in that capacity during 1871 and 1872. It will thus be seen that the Gates family has been closely identi- fied with the history and development of this country, and in fact is one of the very oldest American families in the republie.
Judge Rates received liis edueation in the schools of the West, being but a boy of five when the family migration from Vermont occurred. He attended the publie sehools, and prior to entering Knox College at Galesburg, Illinois, received the benefit of the preliminary training of the academy at Port Byron, Illinois. He became a pupil of Knox College in 1866, and taking the full classieal course, graduated, with high honors, in 1867. He then at once joined his father's family at Independenee, Missouri, and within a short time, entered the office of Comingo & Slover, two lawyers who were among the brainest of that brilliant old sehool who were the leaders in the social and political life of Missouri in the days when the praetieing attorney "rode the eireuit." Their example and instruction were of muel value to the young beginner in laying the foundation of his legal eareer. He finished his reading in 1868, and on September 21 of that year was admitted to practice at Independence. He lias lived either at Independenee or Kansas City ever sinee, and has attained a measure of professional sueeess that comes only to him who is willing to work long and earnestly and who has the high natural powers to serve as a foundation on which to build.
In 1877 the young lawyer formed a partnership with Hon. William H. Wallace, which was to continue almost twenty years. The style of the firm was Gates & Wallaee, although its personnel twiee contained others besides thein, namely: John A. Sea, Esq., of Independence, Missouri, who was a member during 1878-79, and T. B. Wallace, Esq., who was a member from 1887 until its dissolution on January 1, 1896.
The professional labors of Judge Gates liave been enormous. The firin of Gates & Wallace commanded a very large praetiee and was retained in a large per eent. of the important cases in Kansas City and Western Missouri during the last fifteen years of its continuanec. He was admitted to praetiee in the Supreme Court of the United States in 1888 and attended to weiglity litigation before that august tribunal. Among the eases in which he appeared there were what were known as the township and county bond cases from Missouri. The strong defense he made in behalf of the people in those eases is well known.
As County Counsellor of Jackson County he distinguished himself by his able and successful defense of the oleomargarine law of the State against Hon. Roseoe Conkling, who was especially retained to fight the law. Spaee will not permit the mention of the many other important eases in which Judge Gates took a leading part.
During his career Judge Gates has frequently becn inade sensible of the desire of his fellow-citizens to honor him and has hield numerous official positions of responsibility. His fist public honor came in the form of an election to the City Attorneyship of Independence. He was the first County Counsellor of Jackson County, and was re-elected to the office as his own successor, serving from 1887 to 1890, inelusive. By Gov. David R. Francis lie was named, in 1890, as one of the Board of Managers of Insane Asylum, No. 2, at St. Joseph, and was re-appointed by Gov. William J. Stone, in 1893, but resigned in 1894 to devote his whole attention to his law praetiee.
Edward 9. Gates
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During the campaign of 1896 he became a candidate for Judge of the Sixteenth Judi- cial Circuit, comprising Kansas City and Jackson County. He was elected by a majority of such proportions as to be a splendid tribute to his standing as a lawyer and his popularity as a citizen, and took his seat on the bench for a term of six years, in January, 1897. He is giving unusual satisfaction as a Judge and his future as a jurist is regarded by the bar as of the brightest.
Politically, Judge Gates is an unwavering Democrat and for many years prior to his receipt of judicial honors, was looked upon as one of the strongest political factors of Jackson County. He likewise stands high in the Masonic fraternity, of which he is a Past Master, and also belongs to the Knights of Pythias. He is one of the faculty of the Kansas City School of Law, occupying the Chair of Common Law Pleadings.
Judge Gates is a man of very unusual make-up. He possesses extraordinary individ- uality. His mind is perfectly logical and he thinks with wonderful rapidity. As a prac- titioner he was not only painstaking, but also one of the readiest men at the Kansas City bar. He has a remarkable memory and can recall the exact facts and cite the cases relied upon in almost every case he has ever been retained in. He is a thorough student of the law and his peculiar fitness for the judiciary has been so long recognized that he could have held a Judgeship years ago if he had so desired. He is fond of the woods and fields and generally spends his vacations in the health-giving sports they afford. He is a devoted lover of books and his studies have not been confined to those of his profession. In his library, which is a fine and valuable one, is to be found a rare collection of the best of American, English, French and German literature.
Judge Gates was married November 4, 1886, to Pattie Field Embrey, daughter of William and Mary Embrey, of Richmond, Kentucky. Mrs. Gates' ancestors settled at Richmond in the latter part of the last century, and at the opening of this had attained high prominence and standing. Her family is among the wealthiest and most influential of the Blue Grass region, being connected by ties of blood with the noted Clay and Field families.
JAMES GIBSON, KANSAS CITY.
JAMES GIBSON, of Kansas City, was born November 19, 1849, in Cooper County, Mis- J souri; was educated in the common schools of the county and at Kemper's College, the well-known institution of learning at Boonville. It was upon the farm where he was born and reared that he learned those habits of indefatigable industry and self-reliance that have characterized his career since arriving at manhood.
In 1871 he removed to Kansas City, where he has since resided; was admitted to the bar in 1875; elected City Attorney of Kansas City in 1877, and again in 1878; in 1880 he was the Democratic Presidential Elector of the Fifth Congressional District, then composed of Cass, Jackson, Clay and Platte Counties; in 1883 he was elected Mayor of Kansas City, and was a deservedly popular officer. At the close of his term he was tendered a unani- nous renomination by his party, but declined it.
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