History of the city of Omaha, Nebraska, Part 92

Author: Savage, James Woodruff, 1826-1890; Bell, John T. (John Thomas), b. 1842, joint author; Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: New York, Chicago, Munsell & Company
Number of Pages: 1020

USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > History of the city of Omaha, Nebraska > Part 92

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Lauer's boldness and the courage of his counsel in again going to trial before a jury drawn from a hostile and excited community compelled respect, because such a course demonstrated a consciousness of the inno- cence of the accused, known to him and relied upon by his counsel. It is seldom that a new trial is taken at the cost of such fear- ful possibilities. The result justified the aet of defendant. The trial lasted three weeks, and the prosecution by the State was based mainly upon what is known as "eircum- stantial evidence," but it was ably presented. The effort made by the defendant was to ex- plain the apparently incriminating circum- stanees, and to reconcile the whole evidence with the fact of the defendant's innocence. The arguments of counsel both for the State and the defendant may be read with profit, as models, by the criminal practitioner. Mr. Thurston, by his effort, confirmed himself in the opinion of the people and the bar as a most powerful advocate. The result was a verdiet for the defendant, which was satis- factory, and the defendant was also acquitted at the bar of public opinion, before which he had been so recently condemned.

While Mr. Thurston has not devoted him- self to eriminal practice, but has rather avoided than sought employment in capital cases, yet he has been called upon to defend

fourteen persons charged with murder, and has the almost unprecedented record of final acquittal in every case. When he became general solicitor of the Union Pacifie Com- pany, he had, perhaps, the largest practice of any lawyer in his section of the country.

Since accepting the position of general solicitor of the Union Pacific Railway Com- pany, the responsible duties of which office he assumed on the first of February, 1888, he has retired from the general practice of the law, as the business of the railway system, which is now all under his super- vision, occupies his entire time and elose attention.

In 1880 Mr. Thurston was one of the presidential eleetors for the State of Ne- braska, and was the messenger to carry the vote to Washington. In 1884 he was delegate-at-large to the Republican National Convention held in Chicago; he was the chairman of his State's delegation in the convention as well. He participated in the debates of the proceedings, and seconded the nomination of John A. Logan for the vice-presidency.

He was a member of the National Repub- liean Convention which nominated General IIarrison for president, and the temporary presiding officer of that august body. A recently published statement says of him: "Mr. Thurston has long been known as an able lawyer, but it was not until the assemb- ling of the late Republican National Con- vention in Chicago, when he was made the temporary presiding officer, that he achieved a national reputation as an impressive orator. His speech, delivered upon that occasion, was one of great power. and elicited rapturous applause from the vast multitude present. Indeed, he was accorded at its close an ovation such as few speakers ever receive. He has a strong, clear, penetrating voice, and every word is uttered with the utmost distinctness; at no time is there any hesitation in his speech for the want of a proper term to express his meaning. His command of language is very unusual, while grace and polish mark every sentence. Added to these accomplishments is a splendid presence, which at onee stamps him as a man of much more than average character, and as a leader of men instead of a follower.

" The record Mr. Thurston has made thus early in life is one not often met. He has not attained his present legal eminence on

580e

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

account of favoring circumstances, but it is clearly the result of natural ability and close application to his profession. While he has always taken an active and personal interest in political affairs, he has been thoroughly devoted to the law and has made everything else subordinate to its pursuit. * * *

During the recent political campaign Judge Thurston appeared in various parts of the country in the interest of the Republican party, and everywhere met with a cordial reception from the people, and strengthened his great reputation as an orator. On the night of Wednesday, October 17, 1888, he addressed the largest audience ever assembled in Chicago, np to that date, to listen to a political speechi. Five thousand ladies and gentlemen were crowded into Battery "D," and for two hours he held the vast assem- blage as eager listeners to his splendid elo- quence. The verdict of the Chicago press was that Judge Thurston has but few equals in this country as a finished orator."

Mr. Thurston's family and ancestors have all been believers in the orthodox religion. He is not a member of any church organiza- tion, but is a very earnest believer in the gen- eral tenets of the Christian faith. Five years ago, at the Chautauqua Assembly in Crete, Nebraska, he delivered an oration during the day set apart and called "Lawyers' Day," on the subject of " Law and Religion," in which he took the strongest possible ground in favor of the of the Christian belief which asserts the existence and unity of God, the resurrection and immortality of the human soul, and the atoning power of our Saviour's crucifixion.

In the fall of 1875, Mr. Thurston was nominated unanimously as the Republican choice for judge of the third judicial dis- trict of Nebraska, in which district Omaha is situated, but was defeated at the polls by a small majority, his opponent being the Hon. James W. Savage.

Mr. Thurston is generally called " Judge," not because he ever held a judicial position, but because his friends, it is presumed, thought that when Judge Savage secured the office, his opponent was at least entitled to the brevet of that rank.

It need hardly be said that Mr. Thurston is a lawyer of the first class. In consultation he withholds his opinion until he is in posses- sion of the whole case, and has looked at it from every side. lle examines with min-

utest care all the facts upon which a contro- versy depends, and with patience and painstaking scrutiny masters in advance all the details of the field upon which the battle must be fought. Ile notes and strengthens the weak places in his cause, and disposes himself to parry or prevent a dangerous wound or mortal stroke at the hands of a skillful adversary. Ile considers and adapts his plans for the impending battle; with the greatest of care he studies his adversary's case, and reasons from his standpoint as if the case were his own, and does this with such consummate skill that rarely. if ever, is he surprised on the trial by the strategic measures of his opponent, or by any other mode of attack, which to others might be unexpected. Ilis self-possession is his strongest weapon, either for offense or defense: His perfect work of preparation has armed him against surprises. Ile quickly comprehends the views of others, and ap- proves of them generously or calmly develops his objection. Ile does not indulge in much debate. Having arrived at his own conclu- sions, he expresses himself briefly and decis- ively. His power and skill in the trial of cases before juries are remarkable. His fam- iliarity with the details of the controversy enables him to know just when and from what source to expect the most telling blows his opponent may give, and to know at what moment and when he may find the weak points in the harness of his adversary's cause. In such matters his readiness is in no sense anything but the result of careful prepara- tion and study of the facts and their effects. He sees the case in all its aspects, appreciates the character of the witnesses, and how their testimony impresses the jury. Ilis exam- ination and cross-examination of witnesses is direct simple and fair. He has learned the art, perhaps the most difficult to acquire, of waiving cross-examination, apparently taking but little note of the matter or man- ner of the witness.

Seldom does a party gain from Mr. Thurs- ton's course the benefit of testimony he him- self could not properly produce. A willful witness, however, soon finds that a firm, quiet hand is upon him, and yields to its moral power. In his addresses to juries, where there is occasion, he is impassioned and per- suasive, displaying the most efficient power of the advocate. Ilis method is to resolve from the testimony some one controlling

580f

HISTORY OF THE CITY OF OMAHA.

theory upon which he rests his case. All the arts of advocacy to which he resorts are attacks upon such of his adversary's points as militate against his own, and to gather from the whole field the facts and circum- stances which establish his contentions. In the discussion of fact he never unfairly strays from the record. In his presenta- tion of reasons, he is facile in illustration, ready in appreciation and quick at repartee. In his treatment of parties and witnesses, he is always as generous as the nature of the subject permits. Hle does not seek to win by unmerited abuse or unjust ridicule. He relies upon the strength of his cause and the fairness of his reasoning, rather than upon any weakness or wickedness of the men in his adversary's camp. When confronted by a story, of the willful falseness of which he is convinced, his resort to invective, sarcasm and ridicule has proven him master of the forces of this kind of advocacy, no less than of the gentler and more pleasant arts of the profession. He enjoys the struggles and triumphs of the forum, and is not cast down by defeat. However severe the struggle, he throws into it the fullness of his strong personality and accepts the result, whatever it may be, with the consciousness that his full duty has been performed.

But it is not by the triumphs of the forum or the arts or success of the advocate that Mr. Thurston's merit as a lawyer is to be measured. In the earlier years of his prac- tice, he diligently read and studied the works of those great commentators and authors who laid deep and broad the foundations of our common law and equity jurisprudence. Ile made the result of their labors his own, so that he began by becoming " well- grounded in the common law." His familiar contact with men and affairs has so ripened his judgment, broadened and quickened his powers of observation and application, that it is to his ability as a counselor that he owes his proudest success as a lawyer. The complicated questions of corporate administrations, in their legal effects, come to him almost hourly for immediate invest- igation and instant action. His training and habits of thought and purpose have demonstrated that the arts of the advocate sink far below the solid powers of the delib- erate adviser.

Mr. Thurston has delivered many memor- able addresses in different parts of the

country. llis oration on the centennial anniversary of constitutional independence, at Chicago, in 1889; his eulogy on General Grant, before the Union League Club; his address on Abraham Lincoln, in 1890, and his tribute to the " man who wears the button," are among the most remarkable. The press of the whole country has seemed to unite in commendation of his abilities as a powerful and eloquent public speaker. Ile was urged by the greater portion of the entire west for appointment as secretary of the interior in the cabinet of President Harrison, and although he made no effort to secure the position, it was at one time believed that his selection was certain. His name has twice been strongly presented to the legislature of his State for the position of United States Senator, although he has never really been a candidate for that office. Were it not for his railway connection, the people of Nebraska would insist upon his going to the United States Senate, and he has been urged by many for a still higher place. In the spring of 1889, Judge Thurston was prevailed upon to accept the presidency of the Republican league of the United States, to which he was unanimously re- elected at the annual convention, at Nash- ville, March, 1890. His character and ability largely contributed to making this organiza- tion very strong; but he was obliged to inform the executive committee that it was impossible for him to retain the presidency after the expiration of his second term, owing to the pressure of professional engagements, and his resignation, after his most urgent solicitation, was reluctantly accepted at the convention of the present year. He is very frequently called upon to speak in behalf of public charities and interests before moral, social, literary and political societies, to which he always responds with pleasure, and always delights and instructs. Among his fellow citizens throughout the State, but especially in the city of his home, he is held in the highest esteem, as well on account of his position and simplicity of character, as for his generous public spirit. Manly, loyal and affectionate, he enjoys in a remarkable degree the devoted love of his friends. There are many who are willing to administer to his fortunes. Besides these multitudes, there are some who are nearer to him, whom circumstances or personal relations have brought into the inner circle of his affec-

581

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

tions, whose devotion is never weary or relaxed.

It is not unreasonable to expect that Mr. Thurston, still a young man, will fill other high places in the land. If he does, he will bring to the service of the country a loyalty, a devotion, a wisdom, rarely to be found amongst those who aspire to public oflice.

The author recalls vividly the occasion of a speech by Judge Thurston at Des Moines, Iowa, during the presidential campaign of 1884, when Cleveland and Blaine were the candidates. The great hall was crowded to its utmost capacity, and a surging mass of humanity seemed contending for space in which to stand. The speaker was enveloped in the enthusiasm of the cause for which he spoke, apparently oblivious to the expectancy round about him. His phraseology was charming, his delivery graceful and uniform, with the absence of tasteful mannerism, and for more than two hours the vast concourse remained spell-bound under the rich splendor of his matchless eloquence.

Few men in this generation, or any other, have thrown off the circumstances of birth, and overcome the disadvantages of youth and the deprivation of early culture and education, as has Judge Thurston. To thus subdue adversity almost superior to human effort, must be experieneed to be fully com- prehended. To such a youth vain praise is insipid, even repulsive, but that which comes from the heart's sincerity of friend or stranger, is as efficacious to his yearning ambition as an encouraging beck from a guardian angel. To all such the gratitude of a young man of this nature is as ceaseless as the flow of a perennial fountain, even though he he not blessed with the fruits of a golden harvest, or the just plentitude of a busy and toilsome life.

GEORGE FRANCIS TRAIN .- On the 24th of March, 1829, George Franeis Train was born at No. 21 Iligh Street, Boston, Massachusetts.

The ancestors of George Franeis had been settled in Massachusetts for upwards of two hundred years. They came from Ireland, but there was some French blood in the family; and these facts it will be well to remember when his subsequent thoughts and acts are to be considered. A Scotel- Irishman is the embodiment of quiet resolve; a French-Irishman, of fiery zeal; but,

between them, in point of brain-power, " the honors are easy."

When the boy was four years of age, his father, Oliver Train, who was born in Boston, and his mother, a native of Waltham, taking him and his sisters, removed to New Orleans, at a time when the yellow fever was pre- vailing. Both his parents and three sisters fell a prey to the deadly scourge. There- upon George Francis was sent back to New England. Ile declares his education was had in three months at a winter school. 1Ie lived until his twelfth year on the old home- stead-a six-hundred-acre farm, three miles out of Waltham-under the care and teach- ing of his grandmother Pickering, when he found employment in a grocery store in Cambridgeport.

At the age of fifteen he entered, as clerk, the house of Enoch Train & Company, Bos- ton and Liverpool Packets. In 1849, he crossed the Atlantic and established the shipping house of Train & Company in Liverpool, and organized the prepaid passen- ger business (as well as that of selling small bills of exchange) throughout Europe and America; and thus, not yet twenty years old, becoming one of the principal owners and proprietors of the Diamond Line of Liverpool and New York Sailing Packets. The Ocean Monarch, burnt off the Welsh coast, was one of the vessels of this line. The next year he was admitted a partner of the Boston house, taking full charge of the business. On the 5th of October, of that year, he married, in Louisville, Ken- tucky, Miss Willie Davis, daughter of Colonel Geo. T. M. Davis, of that city.

In May, 1853, Mr. Train started on a voyage to Melbourne, Australia, establish- ing there the house of George F. Train & Company. In the first fourteen months, this house netted $119,000 commissions. He afterward declared: "Having a fortune, I went to Australia and built the largest stores and warehouses in Melbourne. The firm of Train & Company was the largest in that city. It had- branches in New York, London and Calcutta." It is needless to say, his business was a great success.

A grand banquet was given Mr. Train, on the 5th of November, 1855, on his embark- ing on a voyage around the world, by the citizens of Melbourne. He subsequently said (in July, 1892) :

"I have been around the world five times

581ª

HISTORY OF THE CITY OF OMAHA.

-once in sixty days. Here is a summary of my [last] trip: I bulldozed the Mikado in Japan, frightened out of their wits the Chinese at Hong Kong, bewildered the Malays at Singapore, ran over the Singalese in Ceylon, drove the Arabs crazy at Aden, astonished the Italians, French, English and Irish, in turn, in a rapid rush through Europe, and returned to the United States."

And not long since, he declared that his " Round-the-World speeches," made on his last trip from Tacoma westward, to Tacoma from the eastward, were set up (eight col- umns) in the Japan Gazette ( Yokohama) by Japanese typos; Hong Kong (China) Press, eight columns, by native Chinese; Singapore (East India) Free Press, seven columns, by Malay and East India typos; Ceylon (Colombo) Independent, eight columns, by Singalese compositors; Le Phara de Porte Said (Port Said-Suez Canal, Egypt), three pages, by Arabs. When racing around the world the other day (my fifth race), reduc- ing time, in forty years, from two years to sixty days."

In 1857, Train commenced his career as an author. He has written, in all, the fol- lowing books: " An American Merchant in Europe, Asia and Australia" (1857); "Young America Abroad" (1857); "Young America in Wall Street" (1858); "Spread-Eagle- ism" (1859); "Every Man His Own Auto- crat" (1859); "Young America on Slavery" (1860) ; " Observations on Street Railways" (1860); "George Francis Train, Unionist, on Thomas Colley Grattan, Secessionist, (1861); "Union Speeches Delivered in Eng- land During the Present American War" (1862); "Speech Before the Brotherhood of St. Patrick" (1862) ; "Speech on Slavery" (1865); "Downfall of England" (1865); " Irish Independency " (1865) ; "Champion- ship of Women" (1868).

"As agent," says Train, "for Queen Christiana, of Spain, I struck Philadelphia, in 1857, to look after her forty thousand acres of coal land." lle soon engaged in · building for the same royal personage, the Atlantic and Great Western Railway, nego- tiating the first bonds and interesting Queen Christiana, of Spain, in the scheme. His commissions in this undertaking netted him a sum that almost any capitalist would con- sider a handsome fortune.

The next year found him in England, as the champion of street railways (called in

that country, then and now, tramways.) Ile endeavored " to obtain an Act of Parlia- ment authorizing tramways in London;" failing in that, he laid tramways, by con- sent of the road authorties, first in 1860, at Birkenhead, and soon afterwards in London.

Says Mr. Train recently: "On my first voyage around the world four decades ago (see Young America Abroad), I was sur- prised to find that, while sewing machines, sleeping cars, steam railroads, gas lights, omnibuses, matches, pianos, Yankee notions, ' cocktails' and ' mint juleps' were evolut- ing our planet, there were no street rail- ways in the old world.

" It seems to have been my destiny to in- troduce on land and sea, in foreign countries, new inventions promoting trade and com- merce everywhere:

"I clipper-shipped the cosmos sea And iron-railed the continent, To introduce trade industry From Occident to Orient."

And he also says: " New York had started the first lines and Philadelphia was busy with the new locomotion for cities, when my contractors launched my first ' tramway,' as the English say, abroad at Birkenhead, opposite Liverpool. John Laird gave me the contract, I taking all risks and agreeing to remove if the scheme proved a failure. That road was opened in August, 1859. My opening banquet had four hundred 'notables' present. Prince Albert writing me a friendly letter. The new locomotion took like wild- fire. When mirabili dictu, Beauregard fired on Fort Sumpter and England went solid with Louis Napoleon for the South, I was furious. I thereupon played the patriot: I lost my ' tramways' but won glory."

In espousing the U'nion cause, Mr. Train delivered one hundred speeches for the Union and participated in as many debates. " He lectured in Great Britain and Ireland before large audiences, especially in the latter country, and, although his manner and language were singular, his sarcasm on English society were often incisive and elo- quent." Ile also established the London- American, the only American newspaper in Europe, Mr. Bemis [now (May 1893) Mayor of Omaha], his private secretary, being editor-in-chief and general manager. Ilis tramways were declared a nuisance and he was fined five hundred pounds, but refus- ing to pay, was thrust into a debtor's prison,

5816

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

where, having one Sunday, in the absence of the chaplain, preached a sermon to the inmates (among whom were editors, law- yers, and men of letters) on the " Downfall of England," the authorities concluded " to let that man out;" he was " demoralizing the prisoners."

In 1862, Mr. Train was in the United States. He favored emancipation, but he did not believe that four millions of slaves should be immediatelly set free and become paupers on the country. He believed in the war policy of crushing the rebellion and in leaving the slavery question to some policy of gradual emancipation. Ile undertook to "beard the lion in his den"-to answer Charles Sumner in Faneuil Hall, when he was arrested; but soon forty thousand ex- cited Irishmen surrounded the station house and informed the officials that "if it didn't make any particular difference to their gen- eral arrangements, they had better let that man out." He was let out.

Mr. Train then started on a lecturing tour through the middle and western states on his "War Policy" subject. On his tour, he was shot at in Dayton; arrested and ordered out of Missouri; only escaped assassination at Alton; and was bayoneted at Davenport .*

In December, 1862, Mr. Train commenced the organization of the Kansas Pacific Rail- way and the next year he was one of the largest operators in Wall street gold market, buying and selling as high as three million in one day.

We now come to the greatest business act in the career of this man, ( whose life from the age of fifteen, had hitherto been, as al- ready shown, one of most marvelous activ- ity.) in making certain the building of the Union Pacific Railroad. IIe was, in fact, the original organizer of the stupendous un- dertaking. He obtained the original capi- tal of $2,000,000. Ile was instrumental in getting the bill through congress which ap- propriated $100,000,000 of government bonds, and some 20,000,000 acres of land in furtherance of the gigantic scheme. He broke ground at Omaha, on the 2d of De- cember, 1863.

In 1864, Mr. Train established the Credit Mobilier and the next year the Credit Fon- cier of America. In 1865, he invested largely in Omaha. The next year he built the Coz-

zens Hotel in this city in sixty days at a cost of $35,000. On the 8th of January, 1868, he em- barked for Europe in furtherance of matters connected with the Union Pacific Railroad, but was arrested in England for words spoken in America, but soon released, but again arrested in Ireland, where he had made speeches, suffering a much longer im- prisonment, during which he was voted for by his admirers in the fifth congressional district of New York, for congress against John Morrissey, but was "counted out."

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of the city of Omaha, Nebraska, Part 92

Author: Savage, James Woodruff, 1826-1890; Bell, John T. (John Thomas), b. 1842, joint author; Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899 Publication date: 1894 Publisher: New York, Chicago, Munsell & Company Number of Pages: 1020

Author: Savage, James Woodruff, 1826-1890; Bell, John T. (John Thomas), b. 1842, joint author; Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: New York, Chicago, Munsell & Company
Number of Pages: 1020