USA > Nebraska > Lancaster County > Lincoln > Lincoln, the capital city and Lancaster County, Nebraska, Volume I > Part 34
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LANCASTER COUNTY COURTHOUSE, LINCOLN
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vocal entertainment, and thereafter introduced to sundry maidens, lost conception of the flight of time-regained consciousness later, with it the fact that the orator was nowhere to be seen. Search was instituted with success. Ile was found, his legs so feeble that he could not stand, his tongue so swollen that he could not talk, his brilliant mind nearly a blank. The words of Shakespeare, as uttered by Cassio, came with emphasis: "O that men should put an enemy into their mouths to steal away their brains." With much coaxing, lifting, copious libations of strong coffee, he was at a late hour gotten into a carriage, and some- time during the small hours of the morning, safely as could be done under the circumstances, delivered to his room in the Village of Lincoln. He lived and practiced his profession for a few years, suddenly dying from an affliction of the heart.
Another of the pioneers was Seth Robinson, the first attorney-general of the state, a classical scholar, the ablest lawyer this bar has seen. Ile was not an orator, but a deep thinker, a severe logician, with powers of analysis of the highest order, with great industry and energy. With his long auburn hair, blonde com- plexion, eyes very large and very blue, his pantaloon legs tucked into boots, he presented an unique and attractive appearance as he slouched through Lincoln's muddy streets. Afflicted here with a disease known as quinzy, from which he had on several occasions barely escaped with his life, he removed to the more equable climate of San Francisco. In that metropolis he reached a high standing with a lucrative practice. But from the disease with which afflicted here, in a few years he died, not more than thirty-five. A most brilliant career was thus cut short. In the winter evenings of 1869 and 1870 he and the writer were wont to meet in a shabby room somewhere on the south side of O Street, between Tenth and Eleventh, and by the dim light of a kerosene lamp, renew our student life by reading some of the Greek classics, in which the former was very proficient.
Another of the pioneer lawyers was Walter J. Lamb. He possessed great energy, modesty, and charming personality, and with it all a pronounced opti- mism. At the time of the writer's arrival he was a justice of the peace. His office was located in a small one-story building on Tenth Street, opposite the south end of the First National Bank Building. The writer, having occasion shortly after his arrival to visit him, he was found in conversation with Doctor Fuller, rubbing his hands together as was his wont, and with a countenance beaming with satis- faction and contentment he was saying to the doctor, "I am doing exceedingly well. I am now making in my office here on an average of $25 a month." He afterwards became the head of the firm of Lamb, Billingsley & Lambertson, a firm that stood decisively high and reaped an abundant harvest from the pro- fessional field. At that time McCandless & Boyd were a firm of lawyers, but the latter moved away in a few years and the former died as early as 1875.
Henry Jennings, who had been for some years a lawyer in one of the south- eastern counties, removed to the new capital and resided here for a few years, practicing his profession. He then went to Cincinnati, Ohio, and subsequently to some town in Maryland, where he died.
Another lawyer at that time was Paren England, then engaged in the real estate business, subsequently in the mercantile, and later as a member of the law firm of Brown & England. He moved to Colorado later, and died in Kansas City.
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Smith B. Galey, an early county clerk, practiced the profession very actively, but moved away from the county in about 1879.
The writer also remembers a lawyer by the name of Atkinson-not extremely prominent. He moved away at an early date. So far as recalled these men- tioned include all the lawyers at the time of the writer's arrival in Lincoln, with the possible exception of John S. Gregory, who certainly had been before and was subsequently a lawyer.
Between 1869 and the adoption of the present constitution in November, 1875, the bar was increased by a number of new men, already prominent and who became prominent. In the summer of 1869 John H. Ames arrived from Western New York. In later years he reached a high place in the profession, possessing a legal mind of rare caliber, a wide reader and with conversational powers hardly excelled. His contributions to the press, on account of their worth, always re- ceived attention. At an early date he filled the office of justice of the peace.
Some time in the summer of 1870 Amasa Cobb joined the local bar. In the same summer the bar was increased in membership by Charles O. Whedon, who became and remained for forty years one of its strongest members. In the same summer came also A. C. Ricketts and C. M. Parker, who are still with us. In February, 1871, Nathan S. Harwood joined the bar. In this same year came also T. M. Marquett, for many years a settler at Plattsmouth. He appeared, in his early manhood, with flashing eye, hair and beard black as a raven's wing, active physically, alert mentally, resourceful, always ready to aid others, devoid of envy, brave and patriotic, one of the first to offer himself as a soldier in defense of his country, rejected because of a physical disability. Let an instance of his resourcefulness be cited. A man charged with murder of another in a room down near the Burlington station. A witness saw the accused immediately after the murder run from the building wherein this room was located. The identity of the accused with the man thus seen running was, of course, very material. Mar- quett found a man, bearing a close resemblance to the accused-in size, facial appearance, weight, and at the trial had him seated near himself. The witness swore to the identity of the accused with the man seen running from the place of the murder. On cross examination Marquett caused the man by his side to stand, and put this question, "Does the accused resemble the man whom you saw running from the room in question more closely than this man standing by my side?" The witness hesitated and finally answered that he could not be certain, without proof of identity. Of course, there could be no conviction, under the cor- rect instruction of the court. The prisoner was acquitted. Counsel had done his duty-no more, no less. L. C. Burr, who is still with us, joined the bar about the same time as Marquett.
CHAPTER XXIV
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION
In this enlightened age of medical science one regards the early doctor as one who had little knowledge of the profession, one who applied the home remedies of calomel, castor oil and blue pill for every ill and who wielded the lancet with indiscrimination. However one may regard the early physician, there must be taken into consideration the times in which he worked, in other words, the knowl- edge of medicine and surgery which then existed in the world. Secondly. there were the physical conditions which he endured; thirdly, the diseases among the settlers were distinctive ; and, lastly, the remedies and antidotes at the command of the doctor were scarce and, many times, not proper for the illness for which they were administered.
In the matter of medical knowledge in those early days, little or nothing was known compared with the present status of the science. In fact, medical knowledge has made more rapid strides in the last two decades than in the century before. In the early days of Nebraska and Lancaster County the doctors had strong faith in the use of the lancet, believing that by letting a copious amount of blood from the patient, the object of which was to destroy the tenement of the disease, a cure could be effected. Then there was the Spanish fly blister which was applied for all sorts of ills ; there were blue pills and calomel which were the chief internal remedies. During the patient's convalescent period, if such a period were ever reached, gamboge, castor oil and senna were admin- istered in generous portions in order to work out of the system the effects of the initial course of treatment.
It would be difficult to describe in limited space just how far the step has been taken from those early theories to those of the present day. A glance at the daily newspapers and magazines will prove by numerous instances the won- derful cures being accomplished, both in medicine and in surgery. Operations upon the heart, upon the brain, and upon the other delicate and vital organs of the body are becoming of daily occurrence, whereas a quarter century ago these practices would have been ridiculed. Nor does the modern doctor need the splen- didly equipped operating room for this work. Weekly the news filters through the censors of some remarkable operation performed in the war zone of Europe ; of how some daring work upon the part of an army surgeon has saved a soldier's life ; perhaps, with the bare ground as the operating table and with a few simple instruments-and no anaesthetic.
The day of serums and antitoxins has arrived and the disease in many cases is throttled in its inception. The present day doctor recognizes the transcendency of nature, the greatest doctor of all, and he prefers to assist this great power rather than work independent of it.
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The physical conditions the early doctor endured present another argument in his favor, if indeed, he needs to be justified. There were no roads, bridges, and, in many places, not even a marked path of travel. His trips were made on horseback or on foot, through intense blizzards, soaking rains, bitter cold, and in the face of the winds which swept across the prairie. Sleep was a luxury he obtained at odd times. In reward for his services he received a very meagre fee and in the majority of cases nothing, for the settlers as a class were poor. Then again he would receive his fee in grain or vegetables or whatever com- modity the pioneer could most conveniently give him.
The diseases common to the first settlers were distinctive. The rough life and simple fare did not permit entrance to the numerous pains and ills attendant upon civilization and urban communities. Fevers and ague, with an occasional stomach ache, constituted the prominent ailments. Accidents required the use of wooden splints and bandages and, of course, the carly physician required a cer- tain knowledge of obstetrics, though the pioneer mother often endured the birth of her child without medical assistance. When sickness broke out in the family the doctor was called if within distance, but if not, the stock of home remedies was put to use. If it were nothing more than a cold, hot lard or pork fat and the internal use of quinine or onion juice completed the treatment. The use of a few herbs was also common. Sweet powders were stock antidotes.
Perhaps the first doctor to settle in Lancaster County was Dr. J. Mckesson, a member of the Lancaster colony composed of Young, Dawson, Merrill, Giles, Harris, Lavender, Warnes, Humerick, Hudson, and a few others. He came in 1863.
In addition to Doctor Mckesson there came in 1868 and 1869 Drs. H. D. Gil- bert, George W. French and J. W. Strickland. The latter, an Ohioan, continued his practice until 1874, when he entered the flour and feed business at Raymond.
The organization of the Lancaster County Medical Society was perfected at Lincoln on the 24th day of May, 1869, the following named residents of the pro- fession being present : D. W. Tingley, F. G. Fuller, J. M. Evans, H. D. Gilbert, L. H. Robbins, George W. French. Within the next year and a half the following became members: J. W. Strickland, John W. Northrup, George A. Goodrich, C. C. Radmore. The first death in the society was that of George A. Goodrich on July 16, 1870. At the time of the organization the official constitution and bylaws were adopted.
Doctor Robbins, among the above, became prominent in the county and state. He came to Lincoln April 21, 1869, from Illinois. Radmore served through the Civil war as an army surgeon and came to Lincoln in 1870. He was also a vet- eran of the Mexican war. James O. Carter was an early surgeon of Lincoln, coming in 1871, and for a number of years serving as penitentiary physician. He also served through the war as military surgeon. Dr. F. G. Fuller served in the hospital department of the Seventy-seventh Illinois Infantry during the war and came to Lincoln in 1868. He became quite prominent in medical circles and by the year 1882 was the oldest resident physician of Lincoln. He was a native of Illinois. William S. Latta, a former army surgeon, came to Lincoln in 1873 and was for several years president of the State Medical Association. He was a Pennsylvanian. A. R. Mitchell is another doctor who has gained prominence in medicine and surgery ; he locted in Lincoln in 1879. Doctor Mitchell was born
ST. FRANCIS HOSPITAL, LINCOLN
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in llenry County, Ill. Dr. B. L. Paine came one year sooner and took up the practice; Doctor Paine is a member of the firm of Miller & Paine, department store.
The above mentioned physicians practically comprise the carly doctors of Lincoln and Lancaster County. True, there were possibly others who lived here, but certainly none for a great length of time nor any who gained much prominence while here. When the growth of Lincoln was assured the field was considered an inviting one and many young doctors just out of college settled here, also quite a number of doctors who had practiced in other places. The medical profession has grown in Lancaster County and has maintained an equal record of merit with any other community in the country. Here in Lincoln are to be found specialists in every department of the science ; here are to be found advantages of treatment, and excellently equipped hospitals, public and private, as good as may be obtained any place.
Vol. 1-18
CHAPTER XXV
THE INCARCERATION OF THE LINCOLN CITY COUNCIL
By A. J. Sawyer
The first election under the new city charter creating cities of the first class, having a population of less than sixty thousand and more than twenty-five thou- sand inhabitants, and which was approved March 25, 1887, occurred on the first . Tuesday of April of that year.
Lincoln had within the last few years rapidly increased in population, wealth, and territory.
The time had arrived when Lincoln was rapidly becoming one of the prin- cipal cities of the West, but she was without paved streets, sanitary or surface sewerage, and without an adequate supply of water. She was about to enter upon an era of public improvements commensurate with her growth and popu- lation. The good name which the city had formerly possessed for law and order had materially suffered within the last year or two, and license and misrule were in the ascendant to such an extent that the leading citizens organized a Law and Order League for the purpose of aiding the authorities in restoring good government and a decent respect for the ordinances already enacted. Law and order and municipal reform became the watchwords of the good citizens of Lincoln, while the others were in favor of the then established order of things.
Among the elective officers to be chosen under the new charter were the mayor and six councilmen.
These considerations all contributed to make the election one of the most spirited ever witnessed in Lincoln.
There were three candidates for the mayoralty: Edward P. Roggen, ex- secretary of state, by the regular republican convention ; Andrew J. Cropsey, by the prohibitionists; and Andrew J. Sawyer, by the citizens' reform movement, which was largely made up of republicans.
The result was the election of the citizens' candidate by a majority of 537.
The city council after the election consisted of Lorenzo W. Billingsley, Lewis C. Pace, Granville Ensign, William J. Cooper, Joseph Z. Briscoe, James Dailey, John Fraas, Robert B. Graham, Henry H. Dean, Fred A. Hovey, John M. Burks and Nelson C. Brock.
The newly elected officers were in due time inducted into office, took the pre- scribed oath, pledged themselves to duly and faithfully administer the affairs of the city, see that the laws thereof were carefully executed, and settled down to the performance of their duties as best they knew. Having adjusted themselves to the conditions imposed by the new charter, they selected an entirely new
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police force, under civil service rules and regulations, and instructed them to see that all the existing ordinances were strictly and rigidly enforced. They then turned their attention to the work of public improvements, the paving of the streets, construction of sewers, waterworks, and the like, and the general routine of municipal affairs; and so spring passed into summer and summer into fall with little occurring to disturb the serenity of the council or jar the machinery of the new government; but the sear and yellow leaf brought sore trials and tribulations to the reform administration.
So far as we can judge, the new administration would have had compara- tively easy sailing had it not been for the police judge. He had been elected the spring before for a term of two years, and consequently was a hold-over official with yet a year to serve.
There had been rumors afloat for some time that "even handed justice" was not always dispensed from his bench ; that the eyes of the presiding goddess were not infrequently unveiled, and that the scales of justice were scarcely, if ever, accurately adjusted, and that the ermine had even been known to cover the wool-sack at places remote from where the seat of the city court had been permanently established.
Whenever the fountains of justice are corrupted, whether in inferior, lim- ited, general, or superior jurisdictions, the people within those jurisdictions experience a most unfortunate condition of things, and one of the most intol- erable and crying evils of our times is the inefficient and often absolutely corrupt and dissolute personages selected to administer justice in the lower courts and particularly in the police courts of our larger cities.
The citizens cannot be too circumspect in the selection of these officials, for no permanent and effectual municipal reforms can be had until these primary courts are thoroughly purged from the corrupt ward strikers and political heelers who, having secured these places for party services by "ways that are dark and tricks that are vain," in the name of justice perpetrate injustice, fraud, and oppression.
What had been rumor at length took definite form. Three citizens and tax- payers, who had cognizance of the delinquencies of the judge, filed with the city clerk a petition or complaint in which they set forth that the police judge of the City of Lincoln had collected large sums of money, in his capacity of police judge, as fines from certain people who were conducting certain out-lawed occu- pations, and that he had failed to make any report of the same on his dockets or to account to the city therefor. That he had also collected fines for the viola- tion of the statutes of Nebraska to the amount of $329, as shown by his dockets, which amount he had neglected and refused to turn over to the county treasurer as required by law, and assuring the council that they had ample evidence to substantiate the charges, requested that a thorough investigation be made. Un- der the city ordinance it became the duty of the city council, when charges were preferred against any of the elective officers of the city, to institute an inquiry, and, if the person accused should be found guilty, to declare his office vacant. Accordingly, a committee consisting of Councilmen Billingsley, Briscoe and Pace was appointed to investigate the complaint. A time and place were fixed for the taking of testimony, and due notice was served upon the defendant. The defendant filed his answer, in which he first made a general denial and then
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admitted that he had failed to turn over to the county treasurer certain funds he had collected, but claimed that his failure was due to his ignorance or misun- derstanding of the law. At the time appointed for the taking of testimony de- fendant appeared with his counsel, Messrs. L. C. Burr. O. P. Mason and C. E. Magoon ; the complainants with their counsel, D. G. Courtnay, J. B. Strode and J. E. Philpot. The taking of testimony occupied some five or six weeks. When the committee came to make their report to the council they stated that in their opinion they had no authority, as a committee, to make findings of fact, or in any sense to try said police judge upon the charges. That as the ordinance stood he should be tried by the council sitting as a body and not by a committee. The council in the meantime had discovered the defect in the ordinance and amended the same so as to authorize a committee to act in lieu of the whole num- ber. The same committee was then reappointed to proceed under the amended ordinance to take testimony and make their report. As much time had already been consumed, it was stipulated that the testimony already taken might be used with the right of either party to offer such additional evidence as he might desire. When the testimony was all in, the second committee, after a most stormy siege and constant bombardment of lawyers on either side, made their report. Among other things, the report showed that in the spring of 1886 the police judge had made arrangements with Gus Saunders, the proprietor of some gambling rooms, that he should pay a monthly fine of $io and costs for himself, and $5 for each of his employees engaged in gambling. That the police judge collected monthly such fines, in some instances going to the gambling rooms to make collections. That in consideration of the payment of the fines Saunders and his employees had immunity from arrests and trials. The committee also found that no com- plaints had been filed or warrants issued or arrests made or trials had in such cases. That the same mode of procedure was had concerning the fines for pros- titution. That he had collected a large amount of money for fines under the statutes of Nebraska and appropriated the same to his own use, when he should have turned it over to the treasurer of the county. The committee accordingly recommended that the city council declare the office of police judge of the City of Lincoln vacant, and the mayor be requested to fill the office with some suit- able person by appointment.
The committee made their report to the council on the 12th of September. Complainants and respondent were present with their attorneys. Both the respondent and his attorneys importuned the council in speeches both eloquent and lengthy not to rely upon the report of the committee but to listen as a body to the reading of the testimony and the further argument of the case. They de- clared that the committee was without authority to hear the evidence and that both the committee and city council were without jurisdiction to try the respond- ent on the charges preferred, because, as they said, the ordinance of August 15, 1887, was an ex post facto law; yet if the whole council would listen to the evidence and argument of the attorneys they would be satisfied with the decision reached. The council concluded to accede to the wish of the accused and, at his request, the case was adjourned to a day certain, when the council, as a body, was to sit in judgment in the case. This arrangement seemed to be per- fectly satisfactory to the accused. The real purpose, however, in securing the adjournment was not that the council might be afforded an opportunity to
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further hear the case, but rather that they might be relieved from having any- thing further to do with the proceedings; for, in the meantime, Attorney L. A. Burr, for respondent, went to St. Louis and exhibited to the Hon. David J. Brewer, then circuit judge of this circuit, a bill in equity in which he claimed that his client was being tried by the city council of Lincoln, in violation of the Constitution of the United States, and was being deprived of his liberty with- out due process of law, and prayed that a writ of injunction might issue to restrain the mayor and city council from further proceedings in the case. Upon hearing the bill, the circuit judge, on the 24th of September, 1887, made an order that the defendants show cause on Monday, the 24th day of October next, at the courthouse in Omaha, why a preliminary injunction should not issue as prayed for, and in the meantime restrained the council from any further pro- ceedings.
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