USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > History of the city of Omaha, Nebraska > Part 38
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Judge James Neville came to Omaha from the State of Illinois, having graduated from the law department of Michigan University; and, after having practiced law for some years, was appointed by General Grant, through the instrumentality of Senator Hitchcock, District Attorney of the United States for the district of Nebraska, which office he held for eight years. Upon the ap-
pointment of his successor, he returned to the bar, and was soon after appointed judge of the district court of this district, to suc- ceed the late Judge Savage who had resigned from that position. Judge Neville held the office of judge for eight years and declined a re-election. He has amassed, in this city, a comfortable fortune, and is of that nature and disposition capable of enjoying easy life.
IIon. George E. Pritchett is a native of the State of New York; and came to Omaha about twenty years ago, and soon thereafter formed a partnership with Mr. J. S. Spaun, under the firm name of Spann & Pritchett. Mr. Pritchett has served the city as city attor- ney; he was elected in 1876 one of the mem- bers of the Legislature in the lower house, and served his constituents acceptably. IIe was appointed by Grover Cleveland as United States District Attorney for the dis- trict of Nebraska, which office he held for some four years, and was succeeded by Ben- jamin S. Baker, upon the incoming of Pres- ident Harrison's administration. Mr. Pritch- ett is one of the most thorough lawyers we have at the bar, and enjoys the confidence of a large clientage and has amassed consider- able wealth. He is now mostly engaged in the business of looking after the legal affairs of the Omaha Street Railway Company and the Merchants National Bank.
Richard S. Hall is the son of Associate Justice Augustus Hall, and was five years of age at the time of the death of his father. Mr. Hall resided at Bellevue in this State with his mother, now Mrs. Stephen D. Bangs, until in his early manhood, when he came to Omaha and commenced reading law in the office of George W. Doane. He has been a practitioner for some fifteen years. He was formerly associated with John M. Thurston, as the junior partner. He is now the senior member of Hall, McCulloch & English. Judge MeCulloch was formerly county judge of this county for two years, and the firm is considered one among the leading
bro. Liebster
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firms of the city, and has acquired wealth and reputation in the practice of the law. Mr. Hall is now one of the attorneys for the Missouri Pacific Railway. He is an aggres- sive and hard fighter, and loves a good story as well as a good fee in a law suit.
The particulars of Mr. John C. Cowin's life appear elsewhere in this history. The writer has been associated with him from the first organization of the courts of this State, in 1867. He is a man of great native force of character, of great forensic ability, and he is in earnest in the prosecu- tion or defense of his cases. One thing may always be said of John C. Cowin, and that is, he has never been known to forget the interests of his clients. As a prosecutor for four years in his early history, he established a reputation as an orator and as a lawyer. He has ever been a dili- gent student, and has had to do with very large interests in this city. His business has become very extensive, and he enjoys the trying of a good law suit as well to-day as he did a quarter of a century ago. Per- haps the bar will pardon the writer, but, whether it does or not, it is nevertheless true that, in the discussion by Mr. Cowin in what is known as the street car cases, in the cir- cuit court of the United States, of the prin- ciple of exclusive privilege, which was as- serted by the defendant street horse rail- way company, he displayed an ability and research that placed him in the front rank of lawyers in this country. The question is regarded by those who are at all conversant with the subject as one of the most difficult of solution in the whole range of subjects to which the courts have given any attention. In the contested election case of Thayer vs. Boyd, the argument made by Mr. Cowin, upon the question of who is a citizen of the United States in order to hold office within the State, the writer believes to be one of the most masterly discussions of that question that has ever been made by a lawyer within the last century.
Leavitt Burnham commenced his career in 1870, by clerkship in the office of Wat- son B. Smith, clerk of the United States circuit and district courts, where he was em- ployed for some considerable time, and com- menced there the reading of law. Ile per- formed the duties of his position in a very acceptable manner, both to the bench and the bar, and was afterwards permitted to prac- tice, after reading for some considerable time in the office of Hon. A. J. Poppleton. Upon his admission to the bar, he still remained in Mr. Poppleton's office, and was engaged for a long time in giving attention to legal mat- ters in the State connected with the Union Pacific Railroad outside of Omaha. He left the Union Pacific service in 1877 and went into private practice. In 1878 he was ap- pointed land commissioner of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, having charge of their large land interests in Nebraska nntil Jannary, 1886, when he resigned and again resumed the practice in 1890. Mr. Burn- ham is a citizen of probity, and has endeared himself to a large circle of friends, and is a lawyer of more than ordinary acumen and ability.
John Schomp was born in New Jersey and is forty years of age. He was admitted to the bar in 1868. He removed to Omaha in 1888, and is now engaged in the practice of law as the senior member of Schomp & Corson. Mr. Schomp is a very large man physically, and is equally so mentally. Ile is a gentleman in every sense of the term, and one whom every lawyer is glad to meet wherever he may.
Warren Switzler is about thirty-seven years of age and was born in the State of Mis- souri. He commenced life in a newspaper office, setting type. Having been admitted to the bar, he removed to this city in 1877, where he has established a reputation as a careful and painstaking lawyer, and the firm, as now composed of Switzler and J. H. McIntosh, under the firm name of Switzler & McIntosh, is one of the prominent firms of
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the city. He has always taken an active part in religious matters, being a devout member of the Presbyterian Church. In the fall of 1890, he was elected to the State Sen- ate, where he served his constituents in a very acceptable manner and added to his al- ready established reputation as an honorable gentleman and a good citizen.
T. J. Mahoney was born April 17, 1857, in Crawford County, Wisconsin, of Irish parentage. He removed to Iowa in 1864 and remained there until 1885. He was ed- ucated at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. IIe taught school for eight years in Guthrie County, Iowa, the last three of which were spent as instructor in Latin and mathematics in the county high school of Panora. In 1881, he was elected county superintendent of schools of Guthrie County and served two years. In 1885, he graduated from the law department of the Iowa State University, and in the same year settled in Omaha and commenced the practice of law. In 1888, he was elected county attorney of Douglas County and re-elected in 1890. In politics, Mr. Mahoney is a Democrat. Ile is the senior member of one of the leading law firms of the city, Mahoney, Minnehan & Smyth, and is regarded very highly as a lawyer and citizen by the profession.
Judge George W. Shields is essentially a selfmade man. He started out in life in this city as a newsboy, at one time deliver- ing the entire circulation of the Omaha Her- ald, the chief organ of the Democracy of this State. For a time he was peanut boy upon the Union Pacific Railroad, and, after hav- ing lost his left arm while engaged in working at a brick machine, he attended the high school of this city, from which he graduated with honors and commenced the study of law. Ever since his admission to the bar he has acquitted himself well, and in the fall of 1887 was elected county judge and re-elected in 1889, and administered the affairs of the office with great credit to himself and satisfaction to the litigants.
Charles Ogden is a native of Louisiana and came to Omaha a young man, just start- ing out in his profession, some twelve or fif- teen years since. Ile is a pleasant, genial gentleman of the pure Southern type. He has long been connected with the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad Company as its local attorney, and in which capacity he has been very successful. IIe is one of the old- fashioned kind of Democrats and enjoys the confidence of his party, and is considered one of its chief advisors in this State. Mr. Ogden is a student, and enjoys having the walls of his office literally lined with books. His library is of very great value, and contains many rare volumes.
William R. Kelly and John Schomp constitute the physical heavy weights of the Omaha bar. Mr. Kelly came to Ne- braska at an early date and located at Lincoln. Soon thereafter, he became the local attorney of the Union Pacific Railway Company, not only for Lancaster County, but for all of the counties in the south- western part of the State, and, after the ap- pointment of Honorable John M. Thurston as general solicitor of the road, he was called to Omaha to take the position of as- sistant general solicitor, as well as general attorney for the State of Nebraska. Mr. Kelly is not only a genial gentleman but a good lawyer, thoroughly versed in corpora- tion law and well adapted to manage and control intricate corporation cases, which work he performs the greater portion of. Mr. Kelly is about forty-two years of age and enjoys a wide acquaintance, and has thoroughly established his reputation as a lawyer.
Charles J. Greene has been a resident of this city for many years, where he has taken front rank as a lawyer and as an orator. Mr. Greene is local attorney for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway Company in this city, and his time is altogether taken up with corporation law. At the last na- tional convention held in Chicago, he was
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one of the delegates from the State of Ne- braska, and acquitted himself with great credit. Mr. Greene has never been an office seeker, except for such as might be orna- mental, and in that respect he has been re- markably successful. Mr. Greene was a great admirer of Roscoe Conkling in his life- time, and his friends think that he has many of the characteristics of that great orator. There is no more genial companion than Charlie Greene. He enjoys his life and the work of his profession in the highest de- gree.
Henry D. Estabrook is essentially an Omaha boy. He was born in the State of New York, coming to Omaha at an early age, where he has grown to manhood, receiving his education in her schools, and graduating with distinction from the St. Louis Law School. IIe is the son of General E. Esta- brook, and inherits to a great degree the legal ability of his father, while there has been eliminated from his composition many of his father's idiosyncrasies. Mr. Esta- brook has established a reputation as a law- yer and orator, and has acquired both fame and money in the practice of his profession.
Judge Edward R. Duffie was born in the State of New York and is about forty-eight years of age. He removed to Sac County, Iowa, when about twenty-three years old, and soon thereafter commenced the practice of law in northwestern Iowa. He served a term of eight years upon the bench in his district and established a reputation second to none in the State as a jurist. IIe removed to Omaha in 1887, where he has continued to reside with his family, and where he has established an enviable reputation as a law- yer.
Ilon. George W. Covell was born in the State of New York and is some fifty-five years of age. Upon his removal from New York he went to Missouri, where he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1860. During the war he was in the rebel army, after which he removed to Nebraska City,
and in 1886 came to Omaha. Mr. Covell held many positions of trust in Nebraska City, and in 1876 was elected a member of the State Senate, where he served with great acceptability to his constituents, and en- cleared himself by his manly and upright conduct to his associates. He is one of the stern kind of Democrats in politics. He is a hard fighter and a good lawyer.
Isaac E. Congdon is the senior member of the oldest firm of lawyers now engaged in the practice in Omaha. The firm consists of Mr. Congdon, Judge J. R. Clarkson and George J. Hunt. Mr. Congdon was a mem- ber of the firm of Manderson & Congdon. he then having just graduated from the uni- versity as a lawyer; afterwards, upon the election of General Manderson to the Senate of the United States, Mr. Congdon formed a connection with the firm of Clarkson & Hunt, as it had theretofore been existing. All of these gentlemen, in their several de- partments, are model lawyers. Judge Clark- son has lately resigned a seat upon the bench, to which he was elected after a very sharp contest about a year ago, but he liked the contest at the bar, together with its remun- eration, better than a prosy seat upon the bench.
C. F. and R. W. Breckenridge, father and son, have been residents of Omaha for about ten years, and are engaged in the practice of law together. They are well adapted as members of the firm, C. F., the father, lav- ing had years of practice and experience at the bar, and his son, R. W., being a young man full of vim and push, have made the firm one of considerable pecuniary profit as well as importance in the administration of justice in this city.
Joseph II. Blair is the only really cosmo- politan lawyer we have amongst us. He is well-known throughout the United States, having practiced law before all the courts in some eight different States. He is a man well along in the fifties, is still active in his pro- fession, and there is only one thing that he
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loves better than the law, and that is to sit upon the edge of a brook with a fish-hook and line in his hand and plenty of fish in the stream.
Judge William O. Bartholomew came to Omaha in 1868, and has been a continuous resident ever since. In 1878, Mr. Bartholo- mew was elected County Judge of Douglas County, serving two years and being re- elected for another term; but before the completion of his second term he was com- pelled, on account of ill-health, to resign his office. A misfortune to him as well as to the balance of the bar of the city is, that Judge Bartholomew has never yet regained his health. While at the bar, he displayed remarkable judgment, and received from the judges of the Supreme Court the highest encomiums respecting an argument which the writer believes is the only one he ever made before that body. . Judge Bartholomew still graces the court room with his presence daily, taking much part in conversation and reminiscences, but is unable to do any active work.
Judge Charles II. Breck became a member of this bar in the fall of 1889, at which time he removed to Omaha from Richmond, Ken- tucky, where he was born, and had always resided. Ile is the son of the late Judge Daniel Breck, so well-known in the judicial and political annals of Kentucky, as a judge of the Court of Appeals and a member of Congress. Ile came highly commended by the bench and bar of his native State as a man of ability and experience and culture in his profession, and has so proved himself. He is about fifty years of age. For many years he was upon the bench and connected judicially with the affairs of his native county. Ile was induced to remove from where he had lived a life of great activity and usefulness, and to sever his old associa- tions, by the desire to be with his large fam- ily of sons, who had preceded him to this city.
William F. Gurley was born in Daven-
port, lowa, and is now twenty-nine years of age. IIe came to Omaha in 1881, and entered the employ of Louis Bradford, the well- known lumber merchant of this city. Soon afterwards he was appointed clerk of the county court, which position he held for several years, and then entered the office of Thurston & Hall, attorneys of this city, where he performed the duties of clerk. In 1884 he was appointed private secretary to Senator Manderson, which position he held until the winter of 1885, when he engaged for a short time in the real estate business. In June, 1886, he first threw out his shingle to the breeze. Later, for one year, he held the position of assistant county attorney, under E. W. Simeral. In 1890, he was a candidate for the office of State Senate upon the Republican ticket of Douglas County, and was defeated. Mr. Gurley is a fine talker and holds a high place among the younger lawyers of the city.
M. V. Gannon came to Omaha some five years ago from Des Moines, Iowa, where he had established a reputation as a lawyer and as a prosecuting officer of some considerable extent. Mr. Gannon is an Irishman by birth, strongly and thoroughly imbued in the principles of the Irish cause; as an orator, he is in large demand at all gatherings where the woes of Ireland are to be dis- cussed. In 1891, he was elected president of the Irish National League, which position he still fills.
Francis Albert Brogan was born in Dewitt, Iowa, December 6, 1860, and lived on a farm in that locality until his fourteenth year. In 1875, he moved with his parents to Ilartford, Kansas. He was educated in St. Benedict's College, Atchison, Kansas, and in Georgetown University, Washing- ton, District of Columbia, graduating from the latter institution with highest class hon- ors, in 1883. During the winter of 1884 and 1885, he read law in the office of Judge T. A. Ilurd, in Leavenworth, Kansas, and the following year took a course at the
John W. Whythe
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Harvard law school. In .Inne, 1885, he was admitted to the bar at Emporia, Kansas, and began the practice of his profession there, being associated in practice with C. N. Sterry, one of the leading railroad lawyers in the State. In 1886, he entered the race for county attorney, as the Democratic can- didate. but, although receiving the highest vote cast for any nominee on his ticket, he was defeated, his party being in a hopeless minority. From 1886 to 1888, he was in the employ of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company as one of its assistant attorneys, and was connected with much of the important litigation of that company. In July, 1888, he removed to Omaha and began practice here, associated with M. V. Gannon, under the firm name of Gannon & Brogan. The partnership was dissolved tlie following year, Mr. Brogan retiring from the firm. Mr. Brogan was married October 17, 1888, at Emporia, Kansas, to Miss Maude II. Perley, of that place. In politics, he has always been a Democrat. He was raised and educated a Roman Catholic.
Jolin Paul Breen was born of Scotch-Irish . parentage on the 20th day of April, 1856, on a farm near the little village of Lockport, in the State of Illinois. In the spring of 1857, his parents moved to the then wild and un- settled portion of western Iowa, and located on a farm near Fort Dodge, at that time a small garrisoned fort for the protection of the early settlers in that part of the State from Indian attacks and depredations. At an early age he commenced to attend the winter terms of school in the rude, rough log school houses of that part of western Iowa, frequently walking a distance of two or three miles through severe winter storms and deep snows to enjoy the meagre oppor- tunities afforded by these schools for an education, in the summer time working on the farm. From the log school house of the country district, he went to the village high school. At nineteen, he passed the school board examination for a teacher's
certificate, and at twenty commenced to teach school near his old home at Fort Dodge, lowa, and continued to teach for the next four years. In 1879, while principal of the Dayton, Iowa, school, he commenced,unaided and alone. the study of the law, and, in con- nection with his duties of school teacher, kept up the study until 1882, when he was admitted to the bar at Fort Dodge, Iowa. In that year he was elected to the office of county recorder in his home county, and served in that office two years. IIe then opened a law office in Fort Dodge, but soon removed to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, seek- ing a wider field for operations. In 1884, under the auspices of the Republican State campaign committee, he " stumped" the State of Iowa for " Jim." Blaine and glory. In 1886, he removed to Omaha and com- menced the practice of the law here. He is a pronounced cosmopolitan, in respect to all national distinctions, social prejudices and religious creeds.
Hon. Frank Irvine, one of the judges of the district court of the fourth judicial dis- trict, became a member of the Douglas County bar in 1884. His experience in the practice of his profession at that time was limited. He had served an apprenticeship of three years in the office of George B. Corkhill, United States district attorney for the District of Columbia, and assisted in the preparation of the trial of the Giteau case, filling the position of assistant attorney for one year thereafter. laving in 1883 grad- uated from the National University, he took up his residence in Omaha in 1884. Mr. Irvine soon gained an enviable reputa- tion as a lawyer of unusual ability. In 1886 he associated himself in the general practice of the law with Henry D. Esta- brook, under the firm name of Estabrook & Irvine. Later, Mr. Charles E. Clapp be- came a member of the firm. In 1891, the number of the judges of the district court for the fourth judicial district having been increased by law, the bar of the district held
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one of the jury dockets. He has developed a great capacity as a judge, his literary learning, as well as his legal training, hav- ing demonstrated that he has great capacity and that he is a man who will grow as a judge as he has grown upon his fellow mem- bers of the bar, as a man and lawyer, during his residence in this city. He has a calm, judicial temperament, and a very discerning mind; he acts with great moderation; he does not arrive at a point so quickly as some others, but when he has arrived at a conclu- sion is firm and decisive. IIe is very much liked upon the bench; his companionship is sought after and enjoyed by very many. Ilis habits are domestic and retiring, and in the years to come the writer bespeaks for him a full measure of usefulness and honor in his profession.
Edward W. Simeral, a native of Steuben- ville, Ohio, has made Omaha his home since 1869. Selecting law as his profession, he studied with Silas A. Strickland and John L. Webster, and was admitted to the bar in 1876. Ile was elected as the first county attorney of Douglas County, in 1886, hold- ing the office for two years. Since his re- tirement from office he has attended strictly to his private practice, which now requires his undivided attention. He is attorney for the Bee Publishing Company, the Mil- Iard Hotel Company, and other corporations, and is recognized by his professional breth- ren, and the public at large, as a worthy and intelligent representative of the Omaha bar.
The following have been officers of the United States Courts for Nebraska :
United States Marshals .- C. E. Yost, May 10, 1867; Joseph T. Hoile, January 25, 1870; William Daily, July 13, 1872; Ellis L. Bier- bower, December 11, 1880; Brad. D. Slaugh- ter, June 17, 1889.
United States Attorneys .- S. A. Strick- land, June 15, 1867; James Neville, May 20, 1871; G. M. Lambertson, December 22, 1882; George E. Pritchett, February 24, 1887; Benjamin S. Baker, February 4, 1890.
Clerks United States Circuit Court .- E. B. Chandler, May 9, 1867; Watson B. Smith, May 30, 1868; E. D. Frank, November 21, 1881.
Clerks United States District Court .- Wat- son B. Smith, June 1, 1868; E. D. Frank, March 23, 1880; E. S. Dundy, Jr., Novem- ber 23, 1882.
The following constitute the judges of the probate and the county court, with the dates of their service: Judge Scott was first pro- bate judge, but there are no records of his proceedings; Clinton Briggs, 1857 to 1860; George Armstrong, 1860 to 1863; Iliram M. Dickinson, 1863 to 1865; Isaac S. IIascall, 1865 to 1867; Benjamin Sheeks, September, 1867, to December 9, 1867; R. J. Stnek, December 9, 1867, to December 21, 1868; J. R. Ilyde, December 21, 1868, to November 8, 1869; L. B. Gibson, November, 1869, to November, 1871; Robert Townsend, 1871 to 1873; William L. Peabody, 1873 to 1876; C. II. Sedgwick, 1876 to 1877; W. O. Bar- tholomew, July 28, 1877, to January 29, 1881; IToward B. Smith, January 29, 1881, to September 6, 1881; A. M. Chadwick, September 6, 1881, to February 20, 1884; J. H. McCulloch, February 20, 1884, to Jan- uary 5, 1888; George W. Shields, January 5, 1888, to January 5, 1892; James W. Eller, January 5, 1892, elected for two years.
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