USA > Nebraska > Adams County > Past and present of Adams County, Nebraska, Vol. I > Part 15
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The United States District and Circuit Court for the district of Nebraska consists of eight divisions. The City of Hastings in Adams County is one of these divisions and one regular session of court is held each year in the well appointed and commodious court room in the Federal Building. This term begins on the first Monday in March and continues until the business of the term is disposed. Hon. T. C. Munger, of Lincoln, is the present United States district judge and George F. Work, Esq., is the deputy clerk. The territory
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comprising this branch of the Federal Court is identical with that of the Tenth Judicial District of the State Court with the addition of the Counties of Clay and Nuckolls. The Federal District Court of Nebraska is entitled under the law to two judges. The death of the Hon. William H. Munger on August 11, 1915, one of the incum- bents, left a vacancy on the bench. Federal judges are appointed by the President of the United States and serve during good behavior but with the privilege of retiring after reaching the age of seventy years.
NOTES
Oliver P. Mason was appointed to the supreme bench in 1867 and was elected in 1868. He served as chief justice from 1867 to 1873 and died at Lincoln August 18, 1890.
Daniel Gantt went upon the supreme bench January 16, 1873, and served until May 29, 1878. He was chief justice from January 3. 1878, to May 29th of that year upon which date he departed this life at Nebraska City.
Judge William Gaslin died at Alma, in Harlan County, June 14. 1910, and by his dying request his funeral oration was delivered by the Hon. James P. A. Black, of Hastings.
Judge Edwin L. Adams died in California, whither he had gone for the benefit of his health.
Judge Beale removed to Oklahoma to engage in professional and other business affairs.
All the judges of the County Court are still living except Judge Babcock and Judge Fleming. Of the incumbents of this office Bab- cock. Smith, Work, Burton and Bowen were veteran Union soldiers in the Civil war, and Judge Dungan was an officer in the Spanish- American war.
THE BAR
When the first term of the district court in Adams County was opened May 6, 1873, in a schoolhouse in Juniata, there were only four cases on the docket, and there were only seven attorneys in the county. At this term James Laird, Benjamin F. Smith, Titus Bab- cock. Harrison H. Blodgett. Guvera M. Blodgett and John M. Abbott were admitted to practice at the Nebraska bar. Judge Daniel Gantt presided at this term. James Laird, C. J. Dilworth and John D. Hays were appointed the committee to examine the applications for admission to the bar.
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Benjamin F. Smith is the only member of the original bar still residing in Adams County. His home is in Juniata. Adna H. Bowen continued to practice law in the county until shortly after completing a term of office as county judge, in 1901, when he removed to his present location, Fayette, Idaho. That Mr. Bowen's capabilities were versatile may be inferred from the faet that he was a physician as well as an attorney, and upon his arrival in the county he practiced medieine to some extent. Mr. Bowen was the attending physician at the first accouchement in Adams County. He was also the first superintendent of sehools and served in that capacity for two terms. The first ease to be tried in the district court was the case brought by Mr. Bowen for himself against the Challenge Windmill Company. He was one of the Michigan colony that settled at Juniata in 1871.
It is generally conceded that James Laird, also from Michigan, though he was born at Fowlerville, N. Y., June 20, 1849, was the most distinguished member that ever graced the Adams County bar. This is largely due to the faet that Mr. Laird was eminently successful in public life as well as a keen and able lawyer. After the apportionment based upon the eensus of 1880, when Nebraska was divided into three districts, Mr. Laird was elected by the republicans as the member to Congress of the then Seeond District. He was a member of the Forty-eighth, Forty-ninth, Fiftieth, and Fifty-first congresses, his majority being inereased with each eleetion. He was an active member of the committees on military affairs and on pen- sions. In his efforts in behalf of the old soldiers he was tireless. One of his most notable contests in Congress was in repudiation of the charge that a great majority of the entries of the public lands were fraudulent, and that the West was mostly made up of land thieves and perjurers.
Although Laird was only twelve years old when the Civil war broke out, by virtue of a good bodily growth he sueeeeded in enlisting for service in Company K. Sixteenth Regiment, Michigan Infantry, and though but a lad through the term of the war he was promoted to the positions of sergeant, second lieutenant, first lieutenant, eaptain and brevet major. He received four gunshot wounds and one saber eut, and was imprisoned in Libby prison for six weeks. Laird fought at Hanover Court House, Gaines' Mills, Chancellorsville. Gettys- burg, and in the struggles about Richmond. The captain of Laird's regiment wrote General Manderson of the lad's conduct at a eritieal moment at Dabney's Mills, when the enemy had turned the Federal flank :
"Under a galling fire, Laird rode along the line encouraging the
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wavering and cursing the cowardly. His long hair fluttering and eye lit with enthusiasm, he appeared the personification of war's fiery madness. The enthusiasm of the boy awoke a steady deter- mination in the men. The impending stampede stopped, and under his inspiring leadership the regiment took a new position with unbroken ranks."
Mr. Laird came to Juniata in 1871, and prior to his election to Congress took a leading part in the county's affairs. He was a strong partisan for Juniata in the county seat fight, but after the affair was settled he announced shortly afterward in a political meet- ing held in Liberal Hall that though he was disappointed, he was sure that the county seat had passed into good hands and that, there- fore, he would change his residence to Hastings. Thereafter he was second to none in loyalty to the new county seat.
The legal and oratorieal abilities of Mr. Laird were never dis- played to better advantage than during the thirty days occupied by the Olive trial. Mr. Laird was one of the principal attorneys for the defense, and his address to the jury at that time is probably the climax of court oratory in Adams County.
Mr. Laird was never married, and after his death, General Man- derson, addressing Congress, said: "To me there is something pitiful in the loneliness of the last few years of his short life. He had no near relative living at the time of his death. He was the last of his race. His father, the strong preacher, died in his youth. His two brothers were killed on the field of honor, near his side, in the early days of the war. His younger brother died of a distressing accident some years ago." Until her death, his mother had made her home with Mr. Laird.
While he was elected to the Fifty-first Congress, Mr. Laird did not actively participate in its workings. He had made a very strenuous campaign the preceding November, and a few days before the election he was suddenly prostrated. He rallied sufficiently to return to Washington following his election, but the rally was only temporary. On the morning of August 7, 1889, Mr. Laird died at his home in Hastings, at 1235 West Second Street. A number of years later, with fitting ceremony, his resting place in Parkview Cemetery was marked with a giant Colorado boulder and a cannon that had seen service in the Civil war.
R. A. Batty was a notable member of the Adams County bar. He practiced law in Hastings continuously from his arrival in June, 1873, to within about a year of his death in June, 1911. Mr. Batty was widely read outside of the law and was a keen thinker and
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observer, brusque of manner, but much beloved by many intimate friends. In politics he was a democrat and in 1878 was elected to the lower house of the State Legislature. The question of prohibition was before the Legislature that session and it had been understood that Mr. Batty would support a prohibitory measure. He, however, did not do so, and the incident probably had something to do with keeping him more out of political life than otherwise would have been the case. In 1883 he was defeated in the race for district judge by Judge Morris. He subsequently took part in city campaigns against licensing saloons and at the time of his death was a strong supporter of the "drys."
Mr. Batty had pronounced independent views in religion and it was largely through his influence in the early '70s there was organized the Free Religious Church Society. Other members were John N. Lyman, George W. Mowry, E. Steinau, A. D. Yocum and M. K. Lewis. In 1878 the society erected Liberal Hall, which still stands on the southeast corner of Third Street and St. Joseph Avenue. For a number of years the free religious thinkers of the community met in the hall and from time to time lecturers on philosophical and kindred subjects were listened to in the hall. The building has had a varied career, having been used as a gymnasium, public school, theater, church, and now as a vuleanizing and bicycle repair shop.
"Honest Bob Batty" was a sobriquet often used by his friends. "Ile was a formidable opponent in a case," said a prominent member of the Adams County bar. "When he was thoroughly aroused, which happened every year or two, we had to get out from under." Mr. Batty was variously associated as follows: Batty, Abbott & Dow; Batty & Ragan; Batty & Casto; Batty, Casto & Dungan, and Batty, Dungan & Burton.
Caleb J. Dilworth was a prominent member of the Nebraska bar, beginning his practice in Lincoln in 1870. He came to Nebraska from Lewiston, Ill. In 1874 he was elected district attorney for the Second Nebraska District, which then embraced the two tiers of coun- ties from the Missouri River to the Colorado line. He served two terms as district attorney, and in 1878 was elected attorney-general of the State of Nebraska and filled that office for two terms.
In 1883 he came to Hastings and formed a law partnership with Benjamin F. Smith and his son, William A. Dilworth, who had been admitted to the bar at Sidney in 1880. From Hastings Mr. Dil- worth removed to Omaha, where he died a number of years ago. Will Dilworth was a member of the first Nebraska State Railway Commis- sion, and subsequently was for several years a member of the legal
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department of the Burlington Railroad. Ile is now in private prac- tice in Holdrege.
John A. Casto was for many years a prominent attorney of Hastings, beginning his practice in 1883 and continuing his residence in the city until his death in the middle '90s. Mr. Casto was a grad- uate of Union Law College. He was a classmate and roommate of William Jennings Bryan. In 1884 Mr. Casto was joined in Hastings by a college classmate, Morris Cliggitt, and they were law partners until 1887, when Mr. Cliggitt left Hastings and Mr. Casto formed a partnership with R. A. Batty.
In the spring of 1877 Bedford Brown was graduated from the Columbian University Law School at Washington D. C., and shortly afterwards came to Hastings. He was in the office of Dilworth, Smith & Dilworth for about three months and then formed a partner- ship with W. L. Marshall, who came to Hastings from Leadville, Colo. The partnership formed in April, 1888, continued until Janu- ary 25, 1890, when Mr. Marshall left Hastings. Mr. Brown was married to Miss Laura Baily, daughter of Judge Jacob Baily of Hastings, and in the later '90s removed to Spokane, Wash., where he is now practicing his profession.
James H. Fleming was admitted to the bar at Springfield, Ill., in 1876, and in 1878 came to Hastings and entered upon the practice of his profession. Mr. Fleming was a republican and manifested con- siderable interest in politics. In 1883 he was elected county judge of Adams County and was elected to the office three times. For the last several years of his life he did not engage in active practice. He died in Hastings in the summer of 1911.
Chris Hoeppner began practicing law in Hastings in 1886, coming from Fremont County, Iowa. In 1890 he was elected county attor- ney. In 1887 Mr. Hoeppner formed a law partnership with his brother, Ernest Hoeppner, who came to Hastings that year. He was for a time associated with A. H. Bowen. Mr. Hoeppner left Hast- ings in 1893, going first to Omaha and subsequently to St. Louis. He is now practicing his profession in Los Angeles.
Jacob Baily began practicing law in Hastings in 1886, coming from Richardson County. He was a republican and took an active interest in politics. He was elected county judge in 1893 and served in that capacity for two terms. Mr. Baily formed a law partnership with A. M. Cunningham, who came to Hastings the same year as Mr. Baily. Judge Baily removed with his family to Spokane, Wash., in 1905, where he still resides.
J. B. Cessna was a well-known member of the Adams County
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bar from 1885 to the early years of the present century. He was admitted to the bar at Bedford, Pa. Mr. Cessna was a republican and frequently took the stump for his party. He was much interested and one of the chief promoters of the Nebraska & Gulf Railroad, which contemplated building a railroad from a point in Dakota to the Gulf of Mexico. Mr. Cessna was an impulsive gentleman with a quite distinct personality. He contributed some articles to the North American Review. Since leaving Hastings his home has been at Erie, Pa.
Lucius Junius Capps was a member of the Adams County bar who in many ways displayed unusual strength. Speaking of him. years after his death, an Adams County attorney said: "In his cases Mr. Capps was quick to recognize the strong positions, and to dis- lodge him was practically impossible. Ile was perhaps the most tenacious. in this regard, of any member of the bar."
Mr. Capps was a graduate of Ann Arbor, graduating with the class of 1875. Following his graduation he practiced in Paris, III., until he came to Hastings, in December. 1878. For a time he was associated with W. P. McCreary. Mr. Capps took a keen interest in politics, and especially in the campaign of 1896 he did a good deal of speaking for the republicans. For some time prior to his death, which took place March 21, 1907, he was a United States deputy internal revenue collector.
Angus B. McDonald was a graduate of the Yale Law School and had practiced for many years in New York State before coming to Hastings in 1885. IIe was a quiet. studious attorney and had served in the constitutional convention of New York in 1867. He was an attorney for fifteen years in Geneva, N. Y., and thirteen years in Rochester. In Hastings he was the attorney for the Nebraska Loan & Trust Company, but did not live in Hastings for long.
Charles H. Tanner was the first county attorney of Adams County to be elected by a general vote in Adams County. This was in 1886, and he served one term. Previously the county attorney had been employed by the commissioners as the occasion required. Mr. Tanner is recalled as a man of versatility and a gift of ready speech, with erratic habits. ITis greatest strength was in conducting the defense and addressing the jury. He was born in New York State in 1853, and was admitted to the bar in Lancaster County in 1877. He settled in Hastings in 1879 and continued to practice there until the latter years of the 90's. He died at Eustis. Neb., about 1901. He had practiced his profession in Eustis since leaving Hastings.
J. M. Hester came to Hastings from New Albany, Ind., about
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the latter part of 1884. He purchased a farm a short distance south of the city and for a time lived upon it, at the same time practicing law in town. He was associated with W. P. McCreary for a time, but was in Hastings only a few years. An incident occurred in the life of Judge Hester which lends itself to romance more readily than the usual tenor of the legal life affords. Some years before coming to Hastings, Mr. Hester defended a woman under indictment for murder in the court at New Albany, Ind. Mrs. Melissa Morton was the woman. Mrs. Morton related that she shot a young man upon the doorstep of her home because he had persisted in forcing his atten- tions upon her. Some time after her acquittal her husband died, and subsequently she was married to the attorney who defended her case, Judge Hester, and whom she then met for the first time.
Frank D. Taggart, a graduate of Wooster University, was admitted to the bar in Adams County in December, 1881. He was the founder of the Hastings Independent, out of which the Hastings Daily Tribune eventually developed.
Charles D. Taylor was an attorney who came to Hastings from Marshalltown, Iowa, in 1885. After a short time he removed to Wash- ington State, where he died about twelve years ago. I. E. Pierce is another attorney who practiced in Adams County only a short time, coming to Hastings in 1887. George Lynn came also in 1887. He was an ardent populist and contributed to the local press on political subjects. A. D. Yocum was admitted to the bar in Hastings in 1878, and William S. MeKinney in September, 1883, when he came from Kalamazoo, Mich., and near which place he was killed in an automo- bile accident in 1914.
T. D. Scofield was active in the practice of his profession in the early days of the county. He was frequently employed as county attorney by the early commissioners. He was one of the prosecutors in the Olive trial. From Hastings he went West. A. T. Ash was another of the well-known early Adams County lawyers. Mr. Ash died in Hastings in the early '80s.
John Finley practiced law in Adams County for about ten years, coming about 1880. Subsequently Mr. Finley has attained promi- nence in the politics of Western Kansas.
Elmer E. Ferris is remembered as one of the distinguished mem- bers of the Adams County bar. Mr. Ferris was born in Wisconsin and was graduated from the Chicago University and the Chicago Union Law College. IIe came to Hastings and began practicing law in 1888, and two years later became the junior member of the firm of Tibbets, Morey & Ferris. The firm of Tibbets & Morey was estab- Vol. 1-11
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lished in April, 1886. After about ten years with the law firm, Mr., Ferris gave up the law and became a minister, removing his resi- dence east. He has since become a novelist and short story writer, contributing to the best fiction magazines.
Obadiah Hewitt was a much respected member of the Adams County bar for a period of about a dozen years centering around 1889, in which year he ran for county judge on an independent ticket. Mr. Hewitt's son, who is now an attorney at Alliance, Neb., was the first student graduated from Hastings College. Mr. Hewitt served as city attorney of Hastings for a time. He formed a law partner- ship with F. P. Olmstead. Mr. Hewitt was an independent candidate for county judge in 1889, though normally a republican in politics.
John C. Stevens attained notable distinction in the Adams County bar through his success in influencing juries. He enjoyed a remark- ably wide acquaintance throughout Adams County and easily won the confidence of those he met. He took an active interest in politics and was a candidate for county judge upon the democratic ticket. Before studying law, Mr. Stevens taught school in Blaine Township and took up the study of law in the office of Capps & McCreary. Ile was admitted to the bar in 1887 and continued in active practice until his death, January 23, 1914. In December, 1913, he formed a law partnership with John A. Lawler. Walter M. Crow, the present deputy county attorney, studied law in the office of John Stevens. Mr. Stevens was born in Okanee, Ill.
As mentioned before, Benjamin F. Smith has been longer in the county than any other member of the bar. Judge W. R. Burton began practicing in Hastings in 1884. George W. Tibbets and Charles F. Morey have been members of the Adams County bar since 1886, and M. A. IFartigan since 1888, coming from Plattsmouth. John M. Ragan first came to Hastings in 1874. at that time remaining for only a short time. Mr. Ragan returned in 1878, and in October of that year formed a partnership with R. A. Batty, buying the interest of J. F. Nelson, who went to Kansas. Mr. Ragan has served as city attorney and was six years on the Nebraska Supreme Bench.
F. P. Olmstead was admitted to the bar in Adams County in 1888. He was elected to the State Legislature in 1884 and in 1888, and intro- duced the bill providing for the locating of the State Hospital for the Insane at Hastings. W. P. McCreary has practiced law in Hast- ings since 1884. He was three times elected county attorney, and for several years was prominently identified with politics, with the repub- licans. With the exception of those mentioned, the Adams County bar is largely made up of younger men who have become members
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within the last ten years. The bar is now composed of James E. Addie, J. P. A. Black, A. T. Bratton, W. R. Burton, W. F. Button, P. E. Boslaugh, W. H. Baugh, C. E. Bruckman, J. J. Buchanan, Karl D. Beghtol, W. M. Crow, James Crowley, R. R. Damerell, E. E. Danly, HI. S. Dungan, Phillip H. Fuller, H. F. Favinger, Don C. Fouts, Joseph A. Gardiner, C. E. Higinbotham, C. K. Hart, Ernest Hoeppner. M. A. Hartigan, J. W. James, F. J. Johnson, W. H. Lanning, John A. Lawler, Charles F. Morey, W. P. McCreary, F. P. Olmstead, John M. Ragan, B. F. Smith, John Snider, George W. Tibbets, Raymond Tibbets, George F. Work and J. E. Willits. The present law firms are McCreary & Danly; Tib- bets, Morey, Fuller & Tibbets; Fouts & Crow; Stiner & Boslaugh. and Bruckman & Johnson.
John M. Abbott opened the first law office in Hastings June 1, 1873. For several years Mr. Abbott was the law partner of R. A. Batty. When the Adams County bar was formed there was only one term of the District Court a year, and the first year there were only four cases on the docket. Now there are forty resident attorneys, four terms of court a year, with the cases each term reaching well toward two hundred.
CHAPTER XI NOTABLE ADAMS COUNTY TRIALS
In point of intense dramatic interest no ease brought to trial in Adams County rivals that of I. P. Olive who with eight others was arraigned before Judge William Gaslin in the District Court at Hastings, in the spring of 1879. These men were charged with the murder of Luther Mitehell and Ami W. Kitehem in Custer County, December 10, 1878. The interest was not alone in the outcome of the trial itself but it was surrounded with an atmosphere that was tense and charged with suspense.
All Western Nebraska was rife with tales depicting the desperate character of the men on trial. The brutality with which it was under- stood that the murder had been committed eaused the central characters to be regarded with a sense of diseoneerting awe. More- over, there were rumors that in the wilds of the unorganized West the friends of the men charged, lawless desperadoes like themselves, were organizing an armed band to rush the jail, overpower the offi- cers of the law, and rescue the prisoners. This feature alone lent an exeitement to the times which it is difficult at this period to realize. At any moment of the day or night the peaceful citizens more than half expected to hear the thunder of the hoofs of the horses of the invaders, their ringing shouts of challenge and the sharp eraeks of the Winchesters heralding the fray.
To guard against this eventuality soldiers were hurriedly sum- moned from Fort Omaha to ward off the gang. Three companies arrived, coming in a special train over the Burlington that made the trip from Omaha in three hours. The soldiers brought with them to the citizens a sense of greater security but the excitement was not abated one whit ; indeed, the presence of the military added zest to the prospect. A patrol guarded the jail, a small wooden affair stand- ing on the southwest corner of the present Court House Square, and when the prisoners were taken to and from the court room they were escorted by a military guard.
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The case was tried in Liberal Hall, which still stands on the corner of St. Joseph Avenue and Third Street. When marching to or from the court the prisoners were marched handcuffed, two and two. Spectators lined the way, many of them women, and remarked upon the appearance and character of the men being tried. At intervals the bugle of the military might be heard all over the town as the guard was changed, and its clear tones was a constant reminder of the unusual event that was transpiring.
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