USA > Nebraska > Antelope County > A history of Antelope County, Nebraska, from its first settlement in 1868 to the close of the year 1883 > Part 18
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Fritzer. It is related that the day following the visit of the hoppers, Hans went out where his growing corn had been, viewed the skeleton stalks that stood like grim sentries of his dead hopes, and epitomized the tragedy in the epigram published in the Oakdale "Journal," in its next issue:
"Die hoppers komm down like a wolf on die fold, Und dere vings dey vos shining mit silver und gold, Und before you could told vot der schamps vos apout, Hans Fritzer, his cornfield vos gone up der shpout."
This humorous comment was so at variance with the gen- eral feeling of gloom that I was almost glad that the hoppers came. The Hans Fritzer poems were generally accredited to R. C. Eldridge, who was a member of the constitutional convention of 1875.
In the winter of 1875-76 I attended school in district number one, Mr. A. J. Leach, teacher. I "batched it" with Charles Derry on Cedar Creek. The only reliable item on the bill of fare was pancakes - a mixture of corn- meal and what the women of those days called "sourings" - and the larder seldom afforded more fat than sufficient to grease the girddle. Charley had a cat that proved undesirable as a roomer and he killed it, rendered the fat, and preserved the oil in a can for boot grease. The follow- ing Sunday we were absent and Hyrum Smith, George Derry, and another party visited the dugout and with the spirit that was in accordance with the times, prepared their own dinner, washed the dishes, and went on their way. When Charley went to grease his boots that night the can was empty of oil and we could not account for it. The next day Charley mentioned it to Hyrum Smith, that is, how his cat oil had disappeared. At first the end of Hy- rum's nose grew white, then the whiteness gradually trav- eled around his mouth and - well, an attack of sea sickness would have been a pleasantry to Hyrum. The cat grease had been used by the visitors as griddle grease in frying pancakes. These were indeed halcyon days and to turn to them in memory is to discover the fountain of youth.
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Under the provisions of the organic act approved May 31, 1854, the judicial power of the territory was vested in a supreme court, district courts, and other inferior tribunals, and this provision was merged into the state constitution in 1866 and prevails until this time. The supreme court consisted of a chief justice and two associate justices, who served in the dual capacity of supreme and district court judges until the adoption of the present constitution in 1875. This constitution provided for the election of both supreme and district court judges. The organic act authorized the governor of the territory to define the boundaries of the three judicial districts and when appointed assign the judges.
In 1854, under the provisions of the organic act, Presi- dent Pierce appointed as judges of the territory of Nebraska James Bradley in June, Edward Randolph Harden in July and Fenner Ferguson, chief justice, in October. Governor Cuming, by proclamation, fixed the boundaries of the judicial districts and assigned the judges. The first dis- trict, embracing the entire south Platte region, fell to Chief Justice Ferguson; the second, comprising the counties of Douglas and Dodge, was assigned to Mr. Harden, and the counties of Burt and Washington comprised the third, with Mr. Bradley as judge. This of course was provisional and was only to endure until the territorial legislature defined the boundaries of the districts. I do not know how the first legislature apportioned the state, but I conclude from subsequent legislation that the territory now Antelope County was always in the third judicial district until 1883. In 1866 the third district comprised about one-third of the area of the state and included this territory, and in 1873 the district embraced nearly all of the north Platte country and was known as "The Big Third." In 1883 Antelope County was placed in the ninth district, in 1885 in the sixth, in 1887 the seventh, and in 1891 the ninth, where it yet remains.
The first session of the Supreme Court in the territory was held in Omaha, February 19, 1855, and was the first court
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of record held in the state. Morton's History is authority for the statement that the first term of court held in the third district was at Florence, on the third Monday in April, 1855, by James Bradley. If this is correct James Bradley was the first judge to preside over the territory now in the limits of Antelope County and the first term of court was held at a distance of about one hundred and ten miles from Neligh, the present county seat.
CHAPTER XLI
THE DISTRICT AND COUNTY COURTS OF ANTELOPE COUNTY AND A SKETCH OF MEMBERS OF THE BAR, CONTINUED
BY F. L. PUTNEY OF TILDEN
A S the population of the state increased, the work of the supreme court accumulated until in 1900 there were eighteen hundred undecided cases before the court. Many interests were jeopardized by this condition, as it necessarily required about five years between a de- cision of a district judge and its being reviewed by the
supreme court. This subject was so much discussed that the commissioner system was evolved which from its incipiency was neither satisfactory to courts nor litigants. Last November the electors voted favorably on an amend- ment to the constitution increasing the number of supreme court judges. As late as 1875 three judges discharged the combined duties of supreme and district court judges. At this time there are seven judges of the supreme court and twenty-eight district judges in fifteen judicial districts.
HISTORY OF THE SUCCESSION OF DISTRICT JUDGES
As associate justice of the supreme court, Samuel Maxwell convened the first term of district court in Antelope County. Thomas L. Griffey succeeded him in 1876. The old settlers will remember that there was a very bitter con- test between Mr. Griffey and E. K. Valentine, the republican nominee. On the face of the returns Mr. Griffey was elected ; Mr. Valentine, contested the election and his contention was sustained. Mr. Valentine succeeded Mr. Griffey in 1877. Frank Welch, member of Congress, died at Neligh in 1878 and Mr. Valentine was elected to that position, J. B. Barnes advancing from the office of district attorney to district judge. Judge Valentine made his last order January 30, 1879, and Judge Barnes his first, March 3, 1879. In 1883,
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owing to a change in the boundaries of the district, F. B. Tiffany was appointed judge and was reëlected in 1885. In 1887 J. C. Crawford and Isaac Powers, Jr., were associate judges and in 1888 Isaac Powers, Jr., and W. F. Norris were similarly associated. William V. Allen was judge in 1892 and resigned his office to accept a seat in the United States senate. In 1893 Governor Crounse appointed N. D. Jackson to succeed Mr. Allen. At the November election, 1893, John S. Robinson defeated Judge Jackson. In 1898 Mr. Robinson was elected to Congress and William V. Allen again elected judge. He served but a short time before United States Senator-elect Hayward died, and Mr. Allen was appointed to fill the vacancy, and Douglas Cones was appointed to the judgeship in 1900. In November, 1900, J. F. Boyd was elected over Judge Cones, and in 1903 was reëlected and served until he resigned to take his seat in Congress in 1907. A. A. Welch was appointed by Gover- nor Sheldon to succeed Mr. Boyd, and in 1907 was elected to both the short and long terms as judge.
DISTRICT ATTORNEYS
M. B. Hoxie was district attorney in 1874; J. B. Barnes, 1877-79; C. C. McNish, 1879-83; E. M. Coffin, 1883-85; N. D. Jackson, 1885-87. The legislature of 1885 abolished the district attorney system and inaugurated that of county attorney.
COUNTY ATTORNEYS
J. H. Gurney was the first county attorney, being elected in 1887; J. F. Boyd, 1889; O. A. Williams, 1891; J. F. Boyd, 1893; Herman Freeze, 1895; Charles H. Kelsey, 1897; E. D. Kilbourn, 1899; S. D. Thornton, 1901; S. D. Thornton, 1903; George F. Boyd, 1905; S. D. Thornton, 1907; J. W. Rice, 1909.
COUNTY CLERKS AND EX-OFFICIO CLERKS OF THE DISTRICT COURT
W. W. Putney, from October, 1871, to January, 1876; Robert Wilson, January, 1876, to January 6, 1885.
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CLERKS OF THE DISTRICT COURT
H. E. Kryger, appointed January 6, 1885; E. P. Mc- Cormick, appointed December 23, 1885; William M. Fannon, elected in 1887; T. H. Pollock, 1892; M. M. Abrams, 1896; R. H. Rice, 1900, 1904, 1908.
SHERIFFS
Jeptha Hopkins was elected sheriff in June, 1871; was reëlected in October, 1871, and served continuously until January, 1880. A. M. Cool was elected in 1879 and served until January, 1884. At the election in 1883 M. B. Huff- man was elected, afterward leaving the state. The office was declared vacant and W. H. VanGilder was appointed August 15, 1885. At the election of 1885 W. A. Elwood was elected and served two terms, giving way to George P. Haverland, who was elected in 1889 and who succeeded himself in 1891. J. G. Crinklaw was selected at the elec- tion in 1893, completing his two terms in January, 1898. J. H. Stevenson, elected in 1897, died soon after taking the oath of office, and John Maybury was appointed August 6, 1898. At the election of 1898 Nial Brainard was elected for the unexpired term of Mr. Stevenson. C. B. Van- Kirk was elected in 1899, serving one term, and was suc- ceeded by E. E. Frisbie in 1901, reelected in 1903, and his successor was J. D. Miller, the present sheriff, who was elected in 1905 and 1907.
With the exception of the bailiffs and court stenograph- ers, this includes the officers of the district court froin the organization of the county, omitting J. W. Skiles, who served from June, 1871, to October, 1871, but who per- formed no official act.
COUNTY JUDGES
D. V. Coe was judge from the organization of the county until May, 1875. Judge Coe was a good man in every respect, but had no special fitness for this office, and his acceptance of the same was more to please others than
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himself; in fact, he resigned before the end of his third term. R. G. King was appointed May 26th to succeed Judge Coe. Mr. King's history in Antelope County is known to all the pioneers. He gave way in January, 1876, to W. M. Lawrence, who was elected in 1875. S. D. Thorn- ton succeeded Mr. Lawrence in January, 1878. Mr. Thorn-
ton was the first lawyer to serve as judge. He retired in
January, 1880, giving way to M. A. Decamp. Mr. Decamp was a farmer living near Clearwater, and was held in high esteem by the early settlers. He discharged his duties satisfactorily but tired of the office and resigned in Novem- ber of the same year.
His successor, S. A. Sanders, was immediately appointed and entered upon the duties of his office and served until January, 1882. Mr. Sanders had been admitted to the bar and was also at one time editor of the Neligh "Journal." G. C. Palmer succeeded Mr. Sanders in 1882. Mr. Palmer was one of the old settlers. He had been a merchant and was for some time in the county treasurer's office. He was a man of good brain power, quick to discern, and of good impulses. His life was one of almost continuous suffering from rheumatism, which event- ually caused his death. He was succeeded in January, 1884, by J. H. Gurney. Mr. Gurney was an attorney of much experience and was deemed a good lawyer. His usefulness was impaired by a stroke of paralysis and he never reached that prominence at the bar that was due him. S. D. Thornton's first administration of the office and the fact that he was an attorney secured for him the election in 1885. He qualified the following January and served until January, 1888, when he was succeeded by W. H. Holmes. Mr. Holmes had practiced law in Iowa, but at the time of his election lived on a farm south of Oakdale. He was well qualified and discharged his duties conscientiously. M. M. Case was a farmer. He took the oath of office in January, 1890. He had no special quali- fications for the office, his son-in-law, B. F. Bomar, doing the clerical work. Mr. Bomar was elected in 1891 and served two terms with credit to himself and surrendered
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the office to B. F. Admire. Mr. Admire served from January, 1896, to November, 1897, when he resigned. He was an attorney of many years' practice in Oakdale, but was given more to the accumulation of property than to the law and directed his energies in that direction. Ill health caused him to resign. J. S. Fields was his suc- cessor by appointment and was twice elected, retiring from office January, 1902. Mr. Fields had lived in Ante- lope County nearly all of his life; he is a son-in-law of the first county judge, D. V. Coe. His business was that of a barber but he served many years as a justice of the peace, which work prepared him in a measure for his new duties. His career as a judge was along the course of his pre- decessors, and he acquitted himself with credit. J. M. Finch, who succeeded Mr. Fields in January, 1902, was a school teacher and a conscientious judge. He was alive to all the advanced ideas of the times and refused to be- come a candidate for the third term. In fact, he resigned December 23, 1905, and R. Wilson, who had succeeded him at the election, was appointed the same day. Mr. Wilson has been in the public eye since he located on his farm near Clearwater in 1873. He taught the second term of school in Oakdale, is a man of liberal education and a good logician. He was appointed county superintendent to succeed J. E. Lowes in 1874, and served until January, 1876, when he succeeded W. W. Putney as county clerk and served as such officer for ten years. He was admitted to the bar in 1890. He gave his attention mostly to ex- amining real estate titles and probate work. At the time of his appointment as judge he was well equipped for the office. His methodical habits and general disposition to do things right has made him a valuable officer. The first of next January he will be fifteen years in office. He is the historian of the court-house and has the events of all of the offices well in hand.
CHAPTER XLII
THE DISTRICT AND COUNTY COURTS OF ANTELOPE COUNTY AND A SKETCH OF THE MEMBERS OF THE BAR - CONTINUED
BY F. L. PUTNEY OF TILDEN
T HE first lawsuit in the county was between the Norfolk Mill Company, as plaintiff, and John W. Skiles, defendant. The action was before D. V. Coe, county judge, and was for the recovery of the sum of $250.00 due for merchandise. This suit was brought be- fore an attorney had settled in the county. The affairs of the mill company were conducted by John Olney as manager. This company for many years controlled the somewhat stinted trade of this period from Stanton to Frenchtown, east and west, and from half way to Sioux City on the north to an equal distance toward Columbus, on the south. The company in addition to the milling business were extensive dealers in merchandise suitable to border life. Here it was that the venturesome home- steader replenished his diminishing supplies before con- tinuing his journey farther west, and here he returned when this supply was exhausted. Thus it was that Norfolk became historic in the early development of northern Ne- braska and its business men had an extended acquaintance.
John Olney was as well known in Antelope County as William B. Lambert or R. G. King became years after- wards in the same line of business. I think I knew every business man in Norfolk in 1872, and now, when there between trains, I get a glimpse of some of these old-timers, side-tracked, vanishing from the memory of the present generation. Yet these grizzled frontiersmen are the sur- vivors of an age that is almost past, the markers and milestones in the beginning of the utter extinction of nature's wildness. Looking into the retrospective, we of that time see that wild expanse of almost unhabitated
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prairie stretching westward until it finally rolls into billows, losing itself in the lofty peaks of the mountain chains. Far up the trail a lonely deer vanishes in a friendly plum thicket and bands of antelope vanish in the foothills. Vanishing, vanishing, always vanishing. In this mood do I hear a "call to the wild"? Yes, but there is no wild to be called to. Wild life made its last stand on the west bank of the Missouri River. Tragic? Yes. The fauna has disappeared, and the Indian is an alien in his own country.
The real parties in this first lawsuit were John Olney and Colonel John W. Skiles, though the mill company was plaintiff and Robert I. Skiles was the relator in the in- junction proceedings. As both Mr. Olney and Colonel Skiles were characters in different ways, I cannot refrain from a little matter descriptive of them.
John Olney had a good appearance. He was hot- headed, erratic, impulsive, arrogant, and egotistical; whim- sical in methods, and thought himself born to command and not to obey. Counsel that even breathed opposition to his policies was not received by him with the slightest degree of tolerance. To say that Mr. Olney did not have a warm side to his nature would be unjust. There are many families along the Elkhorn to-day, living in affluence, that could hardly have held down "the claim" had not Mr. Olney credited them with the necessities of life.
Colonel Skiles was the opposite of Mr. Olney in every phase of life. He assumed the airs of a Crœsus, when in fact he was a Colonel Sellers. His stature was that of the average man, but symmetrical; his features regular; eyes dark and expressive. His dress, even in those days, was faultless, having a regard for the prevailing fashions. In short, the Colonel was always well attired, from the crown of his Grand Army hat to the soles of his well polished shoes. He was gracious in manner, hypnotic in his urbanity, aristocratic in his tastes, a voluptuary in desire, and a very clever conversationalist. He always spoke in a well modulated tone of voice, suggesting his assumed eugenic
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origin, but was never offensive. Even now I am enrap- tured with the melody of his enunciation. I have often regretted that a man so singularly a favorite of nature should have been so lacking in integrity. Flattery was his most effective weapon and but few there were who did not come under his spell.
Have I given him a prominence not his due? If the reader could understand the delirium of popularity that attached itself to his personality for a few months this elaboration would be excusable. Of all the men who settled in Antelope County in those days, he is the only one that the term adventurer will apply to. He was a colonel in the Civil War, in the command of Rutherford B. Hayes, who afterward became President of the United States, and his left arm had been shot away above the elbow.
The foundation of this suit was laid when he gave a check on an Ohio bank for two hundred and fifty dollars in payment for merchandise. The check went east, the Colonel went west. The check came back, but the Colonel never did. The check was dishonored. John Olney had a brain storm when this occurred. He employed Jim Keyner, the only attorney in Norfolk at that time, and associated with him Squire Ames, a farmer living up the Elkhorn from Norfolk, who had been a justice of the peace "back in the states," and assumed to be well versed in the law, and proceeded to avenge his wrongs. In the original suit there was no appearance on the part of Skiles, and Keyner and Ames procured judgment by default. If there had been nothing done to collect the judgment this narrative would be void of interest. Olney, however, proceeded to collect his money on the judgment. An execution was issued and was put in the hands of Sheriff Hopkins with instructions to levy on the property of Skiles at all hazards. When the sheriff arrived at the Skiles homestead the Colonel called him aside and informed him that the personal property was his son Robert's, bought with money that Robert had inherited from some namesake
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in Ohio. However, tales of this kind proved abortive. The sheriff had been fortified with an indemnifying bond and he made the levy and soon the Skiles farm was de- nuded of its stock, about twenty-five head of cattle and a number of hogs. Later the coroner took possession of the property under a writ of replevin from the sheriff, and afterwards the sheriff got it back and advertised it for sale.
Here the Colonel's active brain became busy and he remembered that there was an attorney at Schuyler by the name of Butler, who formerly lived in Ohio, and thither Robert I. Skiles directed his steps. This man Butler was a good attorney, shifty in getting the vantage ground, and wily as a fox. I think, under the circumstances, it is proper to notice him in this history. I saw him but once, in Oakdale, in 1874. At this time he must have been at the zenith of his powers. He was about five feet, ten inches in height, rather inclined to obesity. From the dome of his head to the lobes of his ears there was not a stray hair to mar its polished surface. His head was massive; the frontal bone extended so far forward that if eyes ever flashed from out "cavernous depths," they were his. Not so much from my own knowledge, but from what other attorneys said, he was a formidable adversary in the trial of a case. He had not much of the grace of oratory, but talked freely, in a high, rasping voice that affected his hearers disagreeably. In accounting for an attorney of his standing being here on the frontier in those days, it was said that his partner in Ohio wished a dissolution of partnership, but so dreaded Butler's ability that he hesi- tated, but finally gave him ten thousand dollars, Butler signing an agreement never to practice law again in that state so long as his partner lived. Mr. Butler lived up to his agreement, and his partner dying in the early eighties, Mr. Butler returned to his old home in Ohio, as I under- stand, taking up the practice of his profession there after years of absence.
As soon as Butler became acquainted with the facts
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he hastened to Fremont, where Samuel Maxwell, who was then judge, resided, and procured a restraining order stopping the sale of the stock under the execution. This writ included Jeptha Hopkins, sheriff, John Olney, and Attorney Keyner, and notice was duly served. Govern- ment by injunction had not been discussed then as now; the sheriff knew nothing about it; Olney neither knew nor cared at the time. Keyner did not know, and even the oracle, Squire Ames, had but little knowledge of the writ. However, Keyner and Squire Ames proceeded to Mr. Hopkins, labored with him all night, finally overcoming his caution, and the following day the sale proceeded, the mill company buying in all the stock and keeping the same pending further developments.
It was not long before an attachment was issued and Mr. Hopkins, Mr. Olney, and James Keyner were arraigned before George B. Lake, in chambers at Omaha, for contempt of court. Judge Maxwell, for the time being, was out.of the state. The case having gotten in this posture, Mr. Olney secured the services of General Mander- son, who afterwards distinguished himself as United States senator. This availed nothing, as it stood out in bold relief that all three were guilty of contempt of court. Mr. Manderson directed his energies to securing a minimum fine and the avoidance of a jail sentence, in which he was joined by Mr. Butler, who had no concern for the lacerated feelings of the court. They showed that but little was known about injunctions along the Elkhorn; that at least Hopkins and Olney had acted on legal advice; and that they never had dreamed of looking upon the court with contempt. All was said that could be said in mitigation of the offense, but Judge Lake was not easily mollified. The court had been brought into ridicule; the law outraged ; and ignorance of the law was no excuse. Accordingly, he passed sentence that the mill company restore the stock to Robert I. Skiles; pay the costs, amounting to $237.45; pay Robert I. Skiles damages in the sum of $354; and each,
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Jeptha Hopkins, John Olney, and James Keyner, pay a fine of $250.
This, so far as I know, ends the history of the first law- suit in the county, except the return of the stock. It is said that when the mill company returned the stock the Colonel was on hand with his polished shoes and white vest, and that after it had been driven into the yard and the bars put up, the Colonel was profuse in his thanks to the mill company for having kept the stock for his son Robert for quite a year without any expense to him. The total cost to Olney or the mill company of this suit, as appears from the record, is $1,341.45. In addition to this was the loss of the amount due on the judgment without cost, amounting to $250, also the personal expenses and attorney fees. Mr. Olney paid the bill at the bar of triumphant justice, without the quiver of an eye or a word of rebuke. In the presence of the court he was as subdued as a conquered bronco.
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